03/09/2026
I strongly believe that leadership comes with responsibilities. You cannot claim to effectively represent a people if you are not prepared to face the realities, concerns, and demands of those you lead.
Yes, leaders can make mistakes. We are all human. But leadership is also about recognizing when something has gone wrong, accepting criticism, correcting your approach, and doing better. What leadership should never become is the deliberate silencing of the very people you claim to represent.
Yesterday, the President of the SRC, KASU, published an appreciation letter to the Governor. While appreciation is not necessarily a bad thing, what happened afterward raises serious questions.
Several students criticized the publication and called the Presidentās attention to the urgent demands of students and staff, particularly the ongoing strike. Instead of addressing those concerns, the publication contained more than 15 paragraphs praising the Governor, while the pressing issue affecting thousands of students received little or no attention.
Then came the most disturbing part: studentsā comments were deleted, and the comment section was closed.
Seriously, is this what representation has become?
If you are a leader and you cannot tolerate the opinions, criticism, or questions of the people you represent, then we must ask: who exactly are you leading, and who are you representing?
The studentsā demand is not complicated.
A letter was reportedly submitted to the Governor as far back as 18 August , requesting an audience to discuss the issues surrounding the strike. Up until now, students have not seen the outcome of that request.
So, why is it difficult to use the same platform and the same write-up to add at least one or two paragraphs appealing to the Governor to urgently intervene in the strike?
Why canāt the leadership say clearly:
āMr. Governor, we appreciate your efforts, but our students are currently at home. We need your urgent intervention to resolve this crisis.ā
Is that too much to ask?
Instead, students who raised these concerns were silenced.
And this brings us to an important question: if the publication was made āon behalf of KASU students,ā why were KASU students not allowed to express their opinions about it?
You cannot speak on behalf of students and simultaneously prevent those same students from speaking for themselves.
Representation is not a one-way street.
Speaking on behalf of students means carrying their interests, listening to their grievances, defending their rights, and making their concerns impossible to ignore. It does not mean speaking for them only when it is convenient and silencing them when they disagree.
Leadership should not be about pleasing those in power while ignoring those who gave you the mandate to represent them.
We donāt need leaders who only know how to write appreciation letters. We need leaders who can also write letters of urgency when their people are suffering.
We donāt need leaders who celebrate government officials while students remain at home. We need leaders who can respectfully confront those in authority and demand solutions.
And we certainly donāt need leadership that responds to criticism by deleting comments and shutting down conversations.
If our concerns are wrong, address them.
If our demands are unreasonable, explain why.
If our criticism is unfair, respond with facts.
But donāt silence us.
Because deleting comments does not delete the problems. Closing the comment section does not end the strike. And praising those in authority does not automatically solve the problems of the people you represent.
Leadership is not the absence of criticism. Leadership is the ability to face criticism, learn from it, and still stand firmly for the people.
KASU students deserve to be heard.
KASU students deserve accountability.
fans
