KNEC KCSE English Paper 2 Question Paper / 2016 Pre KCSE

If you travel by plane from Europe to Nairobi by night, you know you have reached African
soil when the lights disappear and darkness dominates the landscape. Africa is a dark
continent, thanks to its energy shortage and it remains poor due to its failure to generate
enough power.

The Netherland alone produces as much electricity per year as the whole of Sub – Saharan
Africa, minus South Africa. Even if you are lucky enough to have electricity, you still have
to contend with the frequent power cuts.

Just about everyone owns a cell phone these days but most lack power to recharge them.
Universal access to electricity should have been one of the Millenium Development
Goals(MDGs) for this continent suffers from “energy poverty” just as much as material
poverty. Affordable, reliable and accessible electricity is a basic right and must never be
considered a luxury.

Yet every time there is drought, we know that prices rise and electricity rationing is frequent.
This is unacceptable in the 21st century, especially when we claim to be a progressive nation.
The government is looking towards the Gibe III Hydroelectric Project on the Omo River in
Ethiopia as a source to meet its increasing electricity demand. It is projected that Kenya will
purchase 500MW of the expected 1,870MW output from the hydro- project.

However, feasibility studies suggest that the Gibe Project will have a devastating effect on
Lake Turkana and its people. Research indicates that 80 per cent of waters of Lake Turkana
come from the Omo River, and when the Gibe Project is fully operational, the water level of
the Lake could fall by as much as 10 metres. This will endanger the livelihoods of 20,000
fishermen and destroy the Omo Delta as a grazing reserve for several nomadic communities
in the contested Ilemi Triangle.

One wonders why the government is not, instead looking at alternative sources of energy like
the Lake Turkana wind power project. This wind farm is under construction and will consist
of 353 wind turbines.

Electricity production is expected to begin later this year and when fully operational next
year, it will provide 300MW of clean power to the national grid. That figure represents 17
percent of Kenya’s planned power needs for 2012. Kenya is ranked fifth worldwide and first
in Africa in terms of wind power generation potential.

Yet all of this requires long term planning, financing and investment. Put another way,
energy like every other economic item, requires good governance, integrity and visionary
leadership.

When you have leadership hell – bent on turning public utilities into personal honey pots
and making public appointments based on cronyism, you know you are still in the dark age.
What we recently witnessed with the ICC farce and judicial appointments is a confirmation
that we have energy and material poverty because of poverty in leadership. We will remain
doomed in darkness unless new, enlightened leadership offers us light and hope urgently.

(Adopted from Sunday Nation of February 5, 2011)

Questions
a) Why does the author refer to Africa as a “dark continent”? (2mks)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
b) Why does the author mention the Netherlands in this passage? (2mks)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
c) Why is the phrase ‘energy poverty’ put within quotation marks? (2mks)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
d) Yet all this requires long term planning and investment. (rewrite adding appropriate
question tag) (1mk)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………

e) Identify one instance of irony in this passage. (2mks)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
f) What evidence is given to show that Kenya experiences bad governance? Give your
answer in note form. (4mks)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
g) What reason does the author give to show that electricity is a basic need? (2mks)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
h) Describe the author’s attitude towards Kenyan leadership? (2mks)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
i) Explain the meaning of the following expressions as used in the passage. (3mks)
Personal honey pots ………………………………………………………………………..
Farce ……………………………………………………………………………………….
Feasibility …………………………………………………………………………………..

Akoko returned to her village having won more than a victory for her infant grandson.
She had opened new vistas for her family, which showed another world and the possibility of a
different way. She talked about her journey to her daughter Nyabera, who sat on a mat nursing
her newborn daughter; she drank in her mother’s every word.

“You know my child, human beings are all the same the world over, with good ones and
bad ones. The bad ones serve to high – light the goodness of the good ones. To allow oneself to
sink unresistingly into evil is a bad thing. Take those white people, they are not of my colour, or
of my blood but they are just, but your uncle is ruled by his stomach and directed by his loins.

He forgot everything that his brother had ever done for him and his greed turned into vindictive
hatred. It would have been something if he had worked to support his appetites, but he is lazy.
Laziness opens the door to evil to rule one’s mind and body. Work tirelessly my child. It is a
shame for an able bodied person to feed off the sweat of others. It becomes like a sickness of
the blood which transmits itself to generations and becomes a curse forever.”

Akoko left the clan of her husband Owuor and returned to Yimbo with all the property
she had salvaged from her brother-in-law, Otieno. It was a mighty herd which moved in three
cohorts. Of the three children she had borne, there survived only one; of the grand children only
two still lived; and the she dwelt in the household of her brother Oloo. She was fifty seasons of
age, a middle aged woman. Sometimes she remembered how it had been and this was painful,
for now she, a migogo, was reduced to living with her brother. She wondered how long it would
be before his wives started making insinuations, but she did not allow herself to descend to
bitterness; for yesterday is not today and today is not tomorrow. Each day rises from the hands of
were and brings with it whatsoever it will.

a) Outline events immediately before the extract. (4mks)

d) Name Akoko’s children not mentioned in this passage.
How did they die? (4mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
e) Comment on ONE feature of style evident in the extract. (2mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
f) Explain ONE theme coming out in this extract. (2mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
g) State and explain lesson you learn from the passage. (2mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
h) What does the last paragraph tell us about Akoko? Explain (2mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
i) Explain the meaning of the following expressions as used in the passage. (3mks)
……….she drank in her mother’s every word
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
……..feed off the sweat of others…..
………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……..cohorts
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
j) “He forgot everything that his brother had ever done for him”. What is it that Otieno forgot?
(2mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
b) In what two ways is Akoko’s journey important? (2mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
c) How does Otieno’s weakness serve to highlight Akoko’s strength? (2mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

From Song of Prisoners
Where is my gold pen?
I want to write letters
To my children
And send them money
I will not tell them
I am here,
I don’t want them
To know that I am
A Prisoner,
I want them to grow up
Without suffering,
I want to pass
Their examinations
And get jobs
And buy land,
Houses,
Cars……………..

I do not want my children
To get shocked
I do not want them
To feel sad and sorry
And cry for me,
I do not want them to know
That my hands and feet
Are tied with ropes
And I am sitting
On the naked thigh
Of the stone floor…………………..

There is and empty chair
In the cabinet room,
The occupant is on leave,
He is alone
Buried in soft cotton wool
Thought of hope
Filled with poisoned needles
Of hopelessness…………

Where is my writing pad?
I want to write
To my parents,
I want to send a fat cheque
To my old mother
And another fat cheque
To my old father
But how can I tell them
That I am shoeless,
That my feet are swollen,
Blistered and bleeding?
How can I tell
My mother that I am
Naked and bruised
All over?

(O kot P’Bitek)

Questions
i. Who is the personer in the poem? (2mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

ii. What is the poem about (4mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
iii. Explain the persona’s attitude towards his family (2mks)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
iv. Identify an instance of repetition in the poem and comment on its effectiveness. (2mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
v. Apart from repetition describe two other features of style in the poem. How effective are
their uses? (4mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
vi. Describe the mood of the poem in the second stanza (2mks)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
vii. Explain the meaning of the following expressions as used in the poem. (3mks)
a) Fat cheque –
b) Blistered –
c) Cry for me –

Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given.
i. The students were advised to consider the consequences of their behavior by the visitor.
(Rewrite in direct speech)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

ii. He was amazed to hear that he was considered the best speaker in his school.
(Rewrite to use “amazement”)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
iii. The fans lined up along pitch. They cheered on their team.
(Combine into one sentence beginning with a present participle)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
iv. Why can’t my mother buy me a bicycle on Sunday? (Begin: I wish………….)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
v. The doors of the bank opened and at once a crowd of customers burst in.
(Rewrite using “Hardly”)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………

i) Explain the difference in meaning among the three sentences below.
a) Mwangi went in with his cap on.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
b) Mwangi just went in with his cap on.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
c) Just Mwangi went in with his cap on.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………

Fill in each of the sentences below with the correct form of the underlined words.
i. The motor was___________________ but the defect was not defected in time.
ii. It is ___________________to hold items obtained through crime.

Rewrite replacing the underlined word with a phrasal verb formed from the verb in
brackets.

…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
ii. Idleness causes poverty and want. (bring)
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………

Answer as instructed after each.
i. We like him because he is gentle and ____________________(child)
(Complete using the correct form of the word in bracket)
ii. Poor handwriting enhances _____________________ of a students essay. (legible)
(Complete using the correct form of the word in brackets)
iii. The Vice Chancellors ate the humble pie and returned to the negotiation table.
(Explain the meaning of the underlined idiom)
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
i. She supported him even when the rest of the committee did not. (back)