I have learnt with shock of the passing of a humble, refined and accomplished educationist, Christopher John Chacha Ogwe, who, for a long period served as the secretary-general of the Kenya National Commission for Unesco.
I first met Ogwe in 1996 when he assembled a team of senior officials from the Ministry of Education to prepare a report to the 45th session of the International Bureau of Education (IBE) that was to be held later that year in Geneva, Switzerland. I was one of these officers. Later, he nominated me to attend the conference due to my outstanding contribution to the paper.
The conference theme was, “The role of teachers in a changing world”. On return, I wrote a report that he circulated to the top officials of the ministry and went ahead to nominate me to attend the 29th session of the Unesco general conference in Paris later that year, the highlight of which was the release of the Report of the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century that was chaired by Jacques Delors.
These two conferences widened and deepened my exposure to issues and prospects in education at the international level. It is through this exposure and my commitment to duty that I was later, through Ogwe’s guidance, elected to represent sub-Saharan Africa at the Council of the International Bureau Education between 2000 and 2001.
Ogwe graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in education. He was immediately recruited to work as an education officer ministry’s headquarters from where he rose to the level of provincial director of education, deputy secretary-general, Kenya National Commission for Unesco and later the director-general for over 10 years.
It was during his tenure at Unesco that Lamu Old Town was declared the first world heritage site in Kenya in 2001 for “being the best preserved and oldest Swahili settlement in the Coastal strip of East Africa”. World heritage sites are places of importance to culture and heritage worldwide.
Six other sites have attained this status ever since, making Kenya the second country in Africa, after South Africa, with several such sites. These are Mount Kenya National Park, Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley, Fort Jesus, Lake Turkana National Park, Thimlich Ohinga Archaeological Site and Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests.
It was also the same year that Ogwe, with the assistance of Professor Margaret Kamar, among other delegates to Unesco, campaigned and succeeded in getting Professor Judith Bahemuka elected to the Board of Directors of Unesco, the third such Kenyan since independence to hold the position after Dr Taita Towett and Professor Bethwel Allan Ogot. The benefits to Kenya of this position are beyond the scope of this column.
When Ogwe retired from Unesco, a vacancy arose at the Teachers Service Commission. I encouraged him to seek the post. On his advice, I asked Otieno Kajwang (1959-2014) to intercede to get him appointed. He did it in two days.
Little did I know that Ogwe had in earlier years organised for a scholarship for Kajwang to complete his undergraduate university education at Makerere University, an indication of how he cared for the future of the youth.
It later dawned on me that Kajwang and I were paying back for the mighty favours that Ogwe had extended to us and the education sector in general.
At the TSC, he distinguished himself as a voice of reason in their deliberations. He also served as a council member of Egerton University for six years.
It is for his selfless service to Kenya, especially in the education sector, that his legacy lies. I join his family, friends the people of Migori and Kenya in paying tribute to him.
