Let’s get this out of the way: the newly installed chancellor of the Co-operative University of Kenya, Dr Benard William Chitunga, does not hail from a foreign country.
He has been told many times that his name hints at someone from Zambia or Zimbabwe or some southerly region of Africa. Well, no. He was born and raised in Chegulo village, Kakamega County, some 36 years ago.
Typical village boy he was: herding cows, bruising his skin while playing village games, admiring the maandazi that teachers devoured with tea at the staffroom.
We will build an elite university, new chancellor of Co-operative University says
During sports days, he would be dreaming of a life where he would be able to afford a soda someday — and savour its sugary goodness like the teachers did.
“It is that quiet village that calls me their son; where I [schooled] from nursery to Class Eight,” the Kakamega High School alumnus told Nation in an interview on Friday.
Now, Dr Chitunga who turns 37 in August, stands in the league of university chancellors in Kenya.
That platform has names like Prof Patrick Verkooijen (University of Nairobi); Francis Muthaura (Kenyatta University); Dr Narendra Raval (Egerton University), and Prof Dankit Nassiuma (Moi University); Prof Ratemo Michieka (Tharaka University); Peter Ndegwa (Meru University of Science and Technology); Vimal Shah (Maasai Mara University); and James Mwangi (Open University of Kenya).
“I sit in the same room… with men and women of repute who have contributed in their spaces of professionalism and experience and business. What an honour!” Dr Chitunga said.
His curriculum vitae reads like someone who has lived for 63 years, not 36.
Today, he works with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), based in Beijing, China.
“I’m an international civil servant,” he said.
President William Ruto congratulates Dr Bernard William Chitunga after his installation as the second Chancellor of the Co-operative University of Kenya on April 30, 2025 in Karen, Nairobi.
Photo credit: PCS
He took up the AIIB role in May 2024. Before that, starting in 2018, he was working with the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), based in Abidjan in Ivory Coast.
Prior to that, he had worked with Olivado (2016-2017); Barclays (2015-2016); Chase Bank Kenya (2014-2015) and the Co-operative University (2011-2014).
He has a doctorate degree from KwaZulu-Natal University in South Africa and two master’s degrees: one from an institution in Switzerland (MBA) and another from Italy-based Università Cattolica del Sacro.
Co-operative University, his first employer after he graduated from Masinde Muliro University of Agriculture and Technology, is now an institution he leads as the titular, president-appointed head.
According to a chart seen by Nation , the chancellor sits at the top of the university structure. Under him is the university council that superintends over three bodies that operate at the same level—the university council, the vice chancellor’s office and the senate.
“I was the junior-most staff,” he recalled of his stint at Co-operative University from 2011. “I was the one who was standing in the booth to give brochures. I am the one who was arranging the rooms here. Most of these guys who are here, even the DVCs [deputy vice chancellors], were here then.”
Dr Chitunga was installed at the university on Wednesday in an event attended by President William Ruto, Cabinet Secretaries Wycliffe Oparanya and Migos Ogamba, among other dignitaries.
Dr Ruto said to Dr Chitunga: “Your elevation to this role is both historic and symbolic, reflecting our collective conviction that young people are not merely leaders of tomorrow; they can also lead today.”
It was Dr Ruto who appointed Dr Chitunga to the chancellor’s position through a notice in the January 10 edition of the Kenya Gazette. He will hold the position for five years.
“You know, we have a whole process of appointing a Chancellor, and it starts at the university, where the university needs to propose I think around 20 or so names that are long-listed. So, somebody in the senate of this university threw my name there,” Dr Chitunga answered.
Later, stakeholders voted on the names and his was among the five that passed and were taken to the Public Service Commission (PSC). It was at that stage that he was informed that his name had been forwarded.
“That is the time I became conscious of this role of a chancellor. I had never in my life, never, even thought about being an academia. You know, I’m a finance person, I’m a multilateral banker. So, at that time, I googled to see who are the chancellors today, and I saw all these names,” he said.
He was delighted that those who voted to have his name proceed “had seen something”. So, he shared his resume as requested. After about six months, he was invited for a chat with the PSC.
“The conversation was just, ‘Who are you?’ So, I told them who I am,” he said.
After that, he said, things went silent for about five months before he was jolted by a barrage of phone calls one night.
“It was 11:53 pm in the night in Beijing, which is evening in Kenya [when] my phone just went wild: gazette notice is out there, and I’m a chancellor,” he recalled.
“I can only thank the President who appointed me without fully knowing who I am, apart from looking at the profile and saying ‘this one!’; that he looked at the profile without political patronage and said ‘this one can contribute,’” added Dr Chitunga.
President William Ruto (centre), former Prime Minister Raila Odinga (left) and Dr Bernard William Chitunga (right) the second Chancellor of the Co-operative University of Kenya during the installation ceremony on April 30, 2025 in Karen, Nairobi.
Photo credit: PCS
In his inauguration speech, Dr Chitunga mentioned his grandparents, parents, wife and two children as being part of the cast that made him who he is.
On his grandparents, he said: “Since my appointment, I have reflected on the last conversations I separately had with my late paternal grandparents in January 2006 and May 2024. Both were on their deathbeds. The words, though spoken in frail, were full of hope. I have wondered how both would react to this moment.”
In our interview, we asked him to expound on the words from his grandparents.
“We were in the village and I was herding cows. My grandmother had cervical cancer. We didn’t have money to take her to hospital and all that,” he recalled.
“One day she told me, ‘One day you will wake up, the sun will rise and it will be harvest day.’ And, you know, in Kiluhya, it’s very deep... So, you’re just wondering: which harvest day?” recalled Dr Chitunga.
“Then she told me, ‘As you go into the future, there are people who have walked that path. Please be asking them. Be asking them because they have walked that path.’ I think it’s one of the things that I took up so early; to get mentors in my life. I wrote to Kofi Annan early in my career to ask him to be my mentor. In my first days at the African Development Bank, I walked to the President of the AfDB. I was a young professional, and asked him, ‘Mr President, I desire you to be my mentor.’ I have built a coalition of mentors because of that statement,” he said.
His grandfather, he added, challenged him to build a big house in the village “because you will receive big people”.
Co-operative University of Kenya Chancellor Dr Bernard William Chitunga (left) converses with African Guarantee Fund Group CEO Jules Ngankam after signing a Memorandum of Understanding at Co-operative University in Nairobi on May 2, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
“In May 2024 and before he died, he could tell me that ‘you cannot continue to run away from your country.’ I didn’t understand what he was saying. He was blind nearly all my life. He didn’t see me growing up because he ran with the cows and he fell and one stick [pierced] the eye and because we didn’t have money to take him to hospital, he became blind when I was very young. And he could tell me, ‘My namesake, you can’t run away from your country.’ I remember him telling me, ‘I’m now releasing you to our country. I’ve prayed for you.’ And do you believe that one month after his death is when I received a call that had been nominated? That’s why the two, my grandmother and my grandfather, hold a special place,” said Dr Chitunga.
He also noted that the grandparents imparted to him the words of the Bible verse that says: “Be of great courage.”
As chancellor, he has grand dreams that include tapping into artificial intelligence and building a 7,000-capacity hostel by bringing an investor on board.
“An investor can come here, build those hostels, operate it for seven to 10 years, get his investment back, get his cost of financing back, and get his return on investment, and leave the facility to us,” he said.
His LinkedIn profile says: “As Chancellor, Dr Chitunga is poised to leverage his vast experience and expertise to advance the mission and vision of the Co-operative University of Kenya, fostering growth, innovation, and excellence across the institution.”
Dr Chitunga arrived at the university on Friday in a chauffeured car, clad in a pristine blue suit. His lean frame somewhat exaggerates the fact that he is about five-feet-eight-inches tall. With a ready smile for cameras, he is the type that figures out an answer before you finish your question, and he knows when to put the business face on.
Quite South African, right?
“Everybody thinks like I’m Zambian, I’m Zimbabwean and all that. I’m told this name is related to some Zambian, whatever,” said Dr Chitunga. “But it hides me also… I am happy to be hidden so that I don’t suffer from the prejudices that are there.”
