As Election Day grows nearer, it’s time to start thinking you’ll be voting for
Kris Bajada. He needs no introduction. He’s our University’s well-established independent candidate. If this information is new to you, Kris is an engineering student who shall be contesting for the role of president for the third consecutive year.
He vouches to bring students together because to him students are not colour-coded. He intends on unifying student organisation so they could together reform the student council that is KSU.
Bajada launched his manifesto back in March just before the consequences of the Coronavirus unravelled and cancelled all of our social lives. In it, he has 98 proposals promised to the student body on diverse subjects ranging from international opportunities to the environment.
The Third Eye is dissecting said manifesto into bits and pieces to tell you what you’re in for should you vote Kris Bajada into KSU.
Let’s start from parking and transport.
It’s no secret that transport and parking make everybody’s university experience a headache. In his manifesto Bajada proses a point system for students who make use of alternative transport. These points can then be redeemed for prizes.
Bajada vouches to lobby with the administration so that after 12pm, all parking spaces available on University grounds can be used by students. He also intends introducing a transport service with pick-up points to and from University during the day.
In particular for Gozitan students, Kris Bajada wishes to set up a shuttle bus for these students specifically on Mondays and Fridays so that they could travel easily from Ċirkewwa to Imsida.
With regard to the environment
Bajada pledges to plant new trees around campus as well as push for a zero-plastic policy.
Two very interesting proposals in this area are the pilot project to replace windows which receive a certain amount of sunlight with transparent solar panels and the setting up of various roof gardens.
Not only are these proposals quite interesting and would probably be welcomed with open arms by the student body but they’re also very fresh ideas that have rarely been mentioned if at all in recent manifestos published from all the competent competitors.
Jumping onto the subject of academia
Bajada promises in his manifesto to increase the number of lockers and CCTV cameras in the bag depository area in the library.
On another note, he wishes to increase the amount and variety of placements available for Erasmus. Furthermore, he seeks to increase the amount of financial support given to students whilst on Erasmus.
Some good news for medical students also, Bajada wishes to negotiate with the government on the Barts Medical School issue which seems to crop up every so often.
Related to this subject, he proposes the possibility of a discussion with foreign medical doctors about rare diseases and new medical procedures.
With regard to student organisation and the actual structure of the council, Bajada has long stated that there needs to be a restructure of the council however details of what this would entail have never surfaced.
He pledges to amend the Room Allocation Report to help those organisations which were unable to obtain a room by providing them with a temporary one.
He will also push for reforms in the current university electoral system to make sure students are better represented.
Kris Bajada in his manifesto does not just address resident students whose journey starts and ends at the University of Malta but he also caters to international students. Many of his proposal centre around the idea of inclusion such as consultation session, a buddy system and the publication of a pamphlet with useful information.
However, he also mentions events such as the celebration of international feasts and international culture nights on campus. Since the only feast we tend to celebrate is St Paddy’s, these events might actually turn out to be useful, cheers Kris.
Now hold your horses, Kris is not done yet.
Here are some bold proposals which will for sure spark interest in the student body such as a puppy room during exam period and a de-stress room with sleep pods and lounging bags!
He’s also promising to fix the disparity in the amount given in the monthly stipend. This as well as pledging to give medical student free doctor’s scrubs.
Bajada also wishes to offer free eye tests to those students who are in courses which are mainly computer-based. Moreover, in his manifesto he mentions the procurement of subscriptions for specialised software such as Adobe to make it available to the students.
These are just the proposals that we managed to fit in this article, there are many more where that came from.
These proposals are ambitious to say the least. One definitely has to question the amount of money that is required to fulfil these proposals without driving the council into situation of debt.
However, these proposals reek of the fresh air the student body has longed for. There’s no denying that these proposals would actually interest the student rather than the traditional ‘additional charging stations’ proposal.
We’ll leave judgement up to YOU, the student.