On December 27, 2024, my father Dr Joseph Aluoch; my sister, Sandra Simbiri, and I found ourselves in the late Prof Bethwell Ogot’s home in Gem, Siaya County.
Not many nonagenarians would be wearing a pinstripe grey blazer and a matching buttoned-up grey shirt deep in Gem’s Kagilo village, but Prof Ogot was. It was a rather hot morning.
He was seated on his favourite armchair, a brown blanket draped across his lap.
At 95, as he spoke, he painted a vivid picture of how the sons and daughters of Gem had left a mark not just within Kenya but worldwide.
The remarkable legacy of Gem is intricately linked to Chief Odera Akang’o, a man whose leadership, Prof Ogot said, shaped Gem’s cultural and social fabric during the colonial period.
Prof Ogot knew Chief Akang’o through his father, Paulo Opiche, who served as his advisor and maintained meticulous daily records of the chief’s life and governance.
These invaluable historical accounts later formed the foundation of the book “Odera Akang’o”, a collaborative work authored by Prof Ogot with significant contributions from his son, Prof Madara Ogot.
Prof Ogot narrated that under Chief Akang’o, Gem underwent a remarkable transformation centred on four pivotal pillars: infrastructure, agriculture, religion, and education.
It was during his time that the Yala-Kodiaga road was built without engineering expertise or professional surveyors. He mandated the planting of eucalyptus trees along these routes, creating natural sanctuaries for travellers seeking a break from their journeys.
The road quickly became a bustling hub of commerce, with Indian merchants establishing vibrant trading networks, bringing essential goods such as textiles, blankets, and animal products to Gem and its environs.
In his records, Prof Ogot’s father wrote down the impressive volume of commercial traffic flowing between Yala and Kisumu.
Chief Akang’o encouraged farmers to grow maize, millet, beans, and rice and introduced novel crops like groundnuts and modern agricultural practices such as using ploughs.
At one point, he brought an agricultural expert from the West Indies to educate Gem farmers about modern cultivation techniques.
The chief was strict. He came up with a rule that Gem residents engage in farming activities until 2pm daily, saying idle hands were a waste of precious agricultural potential. This policy was enforced with rigour. Anyone who violated this rule faced corporal punishment at the chief’s compound. For instance, people were banned from playing ajua (played by placing pebbles on holes spread horizontally) before 2pm.
A strict agricultural calendar was followed, religiously. This systematic approach to farming bore fruits. In those days, Gem was food-rich, a model of agricultural success.
But it is perhaps Chief Akang’o’s nonconformist, pompousness, and brevity that have rubbed off the Gem people for eons of time to come.
When he was invited to an event to mark the ascension to the position of bishop for John Willis, the founder of Maseno School, at the historic Namirembe Cathedral in Uganda, Chief Odera Akang’o came with an entourage in tow: Paul Opiche, his trusted advisor and personal assistant—father to Prof Ogot; Ahor Otieno, his bodyguard; and Mathayo Olewe, his personal cook.
He argued that Luo custom forbade solitary travel for a chief of his stature and that he could only eat food prepared by his designated chef.
On a tour of Buganda, a visit to the residence of young Kabaka, who was only 11 years old at the time, Chief Akang’o was confronted with the Baganda tradition requiring all visitors to kneel before their monarch. He declined, saying Luo customs expressly prohibited him from kneeling before another ruler.
But he picked education and Christianity lessons from the Baganda kingdom. Witnessing the progress in Ugandan schools ignited a passion for education that would define his legacy. Upon returning to Gem, he sought to be baptised and receive Holy Communion. However, the missionaries’ rejection of his request due to his polygamous status did not deter his spiritual journey. Even as he learned Kiswahili from Nubians.
He registered all male children for schooling. His innovative “Konyiri Kendi” (Help Yourself) policy funded teachers’ salaries through community contribution, while his weekly Monday councils beneath a sycamore-fig tree became the foundation of progressive policies.
The curriculum had both academic subjects and practical skills like construction, tailoring, typewriting, shoemaking, and agriculture. The involvement of Maseno School alumni as teachers created a powerful educational network that elevated Gem’s educational standards above its neighbouring constituencies.
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 cast a dark shadow over Chief Akang’o’s reign, heralding a sequence of events that would ultimately lead to his downfall. As German forces established their presence in Kisii territory, the British colonial administration enlisted 9,000 men from Nyanza to engage in combat against the German forces.
He became the paramount chief of the Teso people, where he attempted to replicate the successful reforms that had transformed Gem but encountered fierce resistance.
What followed was a series of imprisonments—from Mumias to Yala. His transfer to Yala Prison sparked an unprecedented display of tribal solidarity as the Gem people, demonstrating unwavering loyalty to their leader, encircled the prison grounds. From within the confines of his cell, Chief Akang’o’s resonant voice carried liberation songs across the prison walls as he foretold that black people would eventually kick out the colonialists in the future, his steadfast spirit inspired the vigil maintained by his people.
He was thereafter transferred to Kisumu, where public protests erupted, and finally to Kismayu, Somalia.
The final indignity came in death, as colonial authorities denied his people’s request to return his body for traditional Luo burial rites in Gem. To this day, the location of Chief Odera Akang’o’s final resting place remains unknown to the people of Gem.
Prof Ogot said Chief Akang’o may have brought education to Gem, but most left, with Gem not growing as fast as it did in the 70s.
“From River Yala to Kodiaga, Gem has produced Kenya’s highest concentration of doctorate holders, but Gem’s development lags in its academic achievements,” he said in the interview, “Gem’s intellectual and brightest minds have carried their expertise beyond their ancestral lands to enrich other parts of Kenya and the world.”
“We need to channel Gem’s remarkable intellectual wealth back into local development,” he said.
Prof Ogot, a renowned historian and African scholar was born in Luanda, Gem, in 1929. He died on January 30.
