By Anderson Ojwang
The dreams and donations of Kenya’s acclaimed authors for a public university in the heart of the village of the academicians are finally on course to fruition.
After decades of unfulfilled promises by the government to contribute land to Odera Akango University in Gem Sub-County, President Dr William Ruto has finally committed to the agreement.
In their dreams, the family of the late Prof Bethwell Ogot and the late Mama Grace Ogot, both acclaimed and respected authors, donated land where the university currently stands.
In the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the government was also required to contribute and donate parcels of land for the institution. However, this has dragged on for over 18 years, denying the donors an opportunity to witness their dream materialise.
Recently, when academicians, leaders, and locals gathered in Gem for the send-off of Prof Ogot, the family warned that the university risked being reverted to a private institution should the government fail to meet its obligations.
Now, faced with this emerging reality, the government has moved to forestall the change by fulfilling its mandate.
President Ruto, through the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service, Mr Felix Koskei, wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Public Works, Housing, and Urban Development, Alice Wahome, and the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning, Mr John Mbadi, in a letter captioned ‘Presidential Directive: Allocation of 50 Acres to Odera Akango University, Siaya County’.
The circular, dated 7th October 2024, read in part:
*“While addressing members of the public at Mutumbu in Siaya County during the thanksgiving service of Gem MP Elisha Odhiambo on 6th October 2023, His Excellency the President directed the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing, and Urban Development to allocate 50 acres of land in Siaya to Odera Akango University for expansion.
This is to bring this directive to your attention and request that you take the necessary steps to effect implementation.”*
David Ogot, speaking at the burial of his father, said:
*”The donation of this land was on condition that the government would add additional land because, for a university to be established, there is a minimum parcel of land required.
In that agreement—and that is what I want to remind you all—there was a clause stating that if this does not happen, the land we are standing on and all the buildings therein will revert to the Ogot family.
Mama passed away in tears, never witnessing it happen. Mzee used to tell me every time that Mama died without seeing the government fulfil its part of the agreement. Will I also die without witnessing the promise fulfilled? Now he has gone.
There are many private universities in Kenya. We are not going to go through the same route, talking about the same issue repeatedly.
President Uhuru Kenyatta told my parents, ‘People steal from the government. You are the first people I have seen donate to the government.’
I heard Maseno University management saying that perhaps my parents did not consult us when they were donating the land. This is an inheritance. But my parents decided—being the kind of people they were—that it should be for the good of our people and the community.
A private university means private. Our parents donated for the public good. But if you do not want to meet your part of the agreement, kindly return the land. However, the clause is clear—it reverts to the Ogot family. I rest my case.“*
The university was launched in 2008 as a satellite campus of Moi University. The campus did not receive government-sponsored students from Moi University after 2016, as had been the norm, although it admitted privately sponsored students before shutting down in 2020. Maseno University took over the management on 20th April 2021.
Before its closure, the college campus had received warnings from the Commission for University Education (CUE) that it risked closure if it could not secure 50 hectares of land for expansion and improve physical structures to meet university standards. An inspection was carried out in 2016.
The CUE had given the campus two years to ensure all requirements were met by February 2018, when another inspection would be conducted for a final decision.
In a bid to prevent closure, the college campus acquired 90 hectares of land in Nyamninia, near Yala Town. The county government committed Sh41 million two years ago to help refurbish campus structures, with the institution expected to provide tuition scholarships to county staff in return.
However, Moi University administration pulled out, letting go of all the workers who had remained at the campus despite the absence of students.
Maseno University Vice-Chancellor Prof Julius Nyabundi said during the takeover that the university council had initially been sceptical but later found justification for the move.
“We have made plans to see how we can use this campus. We now want to take a leading role in ensuring that Yala Town and the county’s economy are rejuvenated. We ask the county government to continue supporting the institution,” said Prof Nyabundi.
He stated that they had serious plans for the college and would put it to good use.
Then Moi University Vice-Chancellor Isaac Kosgey said they had established Odera Akango Campus to ensure the aspirations of the Ogot family, who donated the land, were achieved.
