This man Bethwel Ogot: Inside life and times of Kenya's leading scholar

Even in his old age, Bethwel Allan Ogot would wake up at 6am every day to read newspapers, catch up with current affairs, take his breakfast then head to the library.

This was the routine at his rural home in Yala, Siaya County where he has been residing. He was writing for at least two hours every day and never entertained any disruption at this time of the day.

Over time, Prof Ogot built a prized investment of his lifetime, a collection of books, archives and artefacts. Not everyone was allowed inside his library which had about 10,000 books.

Outside his busy life in research and academics, close friends and relatives say he was an ardent fan of Gor Mahia and Manchester United and could spare time from his busy schedule to watch his teams play.

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The distinguished scholar, writer, and public servant died on Thursday while undergoing treatment at a Kisumu hospital. However, his contribution to historical research will last for decades.

The former Chancellor of Moi University was also the founding chairman of Gor Mahia Football Club in 1966.

Born on August 3, 1929, in Gem, Siaya County, Ogot went to Ambira Primary, Maseno School, Makerere University College, and the University of St Andrews and the School of Oriental and African Studies and the University of London for his PhD.

While studying in London, he served as a leader of the Kenya Students Association, where he assisted Kenya nationalists, notably the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga during the 1960 Kenya’s independence negotiations at Lancaster.

Ogot commenced his university academic and research life as a lecturer at Makerere University and eventually became Chairman of the History Department of the University College of Nairobi, currently the University of Nairobi (UoN). At UoN, he founded and directed the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the Institute of African Studies (IAS).

He was the President of the International Scientific Committee for the preparation of UNESCO’s General History of Africa. He edited Volume V of UNESCO’s History of Africa and presided over the committee that oversaw the production of the entire History. He was a member of the International Commission for UNESCO’s History of Humanity.

The cheerful and globetrotting historian was last heard in public during the fourth edition of the Piny Luo festival that was held in Siaya and attended by President William Ruto, his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni, and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

READ: At 88, historian Bethwel Ogot not prepared to write his last word just yet

In a recorded video interview that was played at Got Ramogi during a historical discourse on the Luo migration, Ogot described the community as multinational.

“Khartoum is not what the Arabs think but a Luo word meaning where the blue and white Niles meet,” narrated Ogot in the 30-minute recorded interview.

While many Luos have described Ramogi Hill as a sacred place for the community, Ogot in his last interview said there is need to have religious groups taking care of the hill.

“We cannot call Got Ramogi a sacred place when some people walk in there with very dirty shoes. Our people must learn to remove their shoes when visiting the place,” he said.

Up until his death on Thursday, he remained a Professor Emeritus of Maseno University, where before being Chancellor of Moi University he had been the Director of Post-Graduate Studies.

As the Chancellor of Moi University, he worked to oversee the constitution of the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Narok University, Karatina University, Kabianga University, University of Eldoret, Rongo University College and the Odera Akango’ College, which remains a constituent college of Moi University.

Ogot, who was awarded the Elder of the Burning Spears (EBS) earned scholarly acclaim as a result of his comprehension of his community’s migratory accounts.

ALSO READ: Tributes pour in as legendary scholar Bethwel Ogot dies

Before his demise, Ogot was alarmed that Kenya was turning into a cultural desert and lamented that the elderly were increasingly forgetting their culture and had therefore nothing to pass on to the younger generation.

Today, he noted, young writers are not keen to tell their stories in local languages.

His biggest disappointment was reserved for the Luo Council of Elders, and the infighting over who should be referred to by the title Ker (supreme leader).

The Ogots met at Makerere University in 1950 and wedded nine years later at Maseno School in 1959.

They had joint bank accounts throughout the 56 years of marriage before Prof Bethwel Ogot lost his wife, Grace Ogot, in 2015.

In the last few years, he has been concerned with the turn of events taking place in Luo Nyanza, Nyanza and the country as a whole. He believed politics of clans was a setback in the quest to promote nationalism.

Ogot warned that the “myth that the future of the country must depend on a few families” was dangerous.

Yesterday, tributes for the great scholar continued to pour in.