Festus Onyango's biggest wish is to meet and exchange ideas with Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen, the Cabinet Secretary for Youth, Creative Economy and Sport.
Murkomen, a lawyer by profession, was among the guests when Onyango celebrated his admission to the bar on December 2, 2022.
Onyango admires his fellow lawyer's meteoric rise from the bar to the executive, and Murkomen's recent appointment as head of the Sports docket has only strengthened Onyango's desire to have a tete-a-tete with the former senator.
For the past eight years, Onyango has been an integral part of the Kenyan national hockey team, a goal-poacher in an illustrious career that saw him take the game seriously at Maseno School, winning several Most Valuable Player (MVP) and top scorer awards for school, club and country. And with two decades of playing experience under his belt, coupled with a legal career that is now firmly rooted as an associate at Nairobi law firm Mwae and Associates, Onyango sees his fine cocktail of sport and law boding well for Kenya.
Festus Onyango playing hockey.
Photo credit: File | Nation
At Mwae and Associates, where he initially joined for his pupillage in 2021, Onyango is in good sporting company as one of his seniors at the Bruce House-based firm, Shadrack Wambui, is an avid boxer who provides free legal services to the needy through the 'Sheria Mtaani' initiative where Onyango is a volunteer.
Another colleague, Lisa Wanjohi, is a basketball enthusiast. Her father, Samuel Wanjohi, is a Kenyan basketball legend who played for and coached the Kenya national team and the Kenya Ports Authority Basketball Club.
Wambui recently fought fellow lawyer Benjamin Njeru in the second edition of the Law of the Ring tournament, an annual charity boxing extravaganza that features a show-stopping bout between lawyers to raise money to support underprivileged boxers and provide access to justice for the marginalised.
“I have to also give a special mention to Danstan Omari, who has given us opportunities in the legal field, as well as Shadrack Wambui. I also thank my boss Dorcas Mwae because she has also accorded me the opportunity to continue playing, in as much as we do not compromise the legal work at the firm,” Onyango said.
“I usually have to work early mornings or late evenings to free up my weekends and training days, and to also allow me to attend matches.
“Dorcas Mwae has accorded me opportunities to attend matches, even out of Nairobi, and also travel with the national team while still at work – it has been a good journey so far and I’ve learnt how to juggle my legal work and the sport without compromising performance on either side because both are equally important to me.”
“My dream and desire is to see CS Murkomen launch a National Players’ Association featuring representatives from the various sports disciplines,” explains Onyango, dressed in a Kenya Sevens rugby team jersey, as we chat in his Bruce House office with the clock fast ticking towards 7pm.
“The Players’ Association will help bridge the gap between the various sports disciplines and the ministry and give the right picture that isn’t often represented by federation officials,” he argues.
“Most of the time, what officials report to Government is quite different with matters on the ground and a Players’ Association would help fill up this information gap.”
At the top of Onyango's wish list are quarterly meetings and empowerment sessions for the players to give them the skills they need to have a louder voice in sports management.
Onyango has been there and done that, succeeding as a player at school, club and national level, and his success has gone hand in hand with his academic drive and development in the legal profession.
He attributes his success on both fronts to his family, early hockey development under the tutelage of Kamal Sembi and the late Cliff Okello "Zorro" at Kisumu Simba Hockey Club, and mentorship at both Strathmore and law firm Mwae and Associates. Okello died in 2017, having led Butali Warriors to back-to-back Kenya Hockey Union Premier League titles in 2014 and 2015.
“When my elder brother Dan Onyango – who plays for Parklands Sports Club – was in high school in 2005, he was elected games captain at Maseno School and during the school holidays, he would come home with his hockey sticks… at the time, I was still in primary school and that’s how I got to know about the game of hockey,” young Onyango flashes back.
“I started playing casually in 2005 and took up the sport seriously in 2009 when I started training at Kisumu Simba under the tutelage of Kamal Sembi and the late Cliff Okello 'Zorro'.
“And when I joined Form One, at Maseno School, I was certain that the sport I was going to play was hockey (under Coach Frank Odayo) because I had the basics of the game. I got into the school team immediately.”
Kenya National Hockey team player and Lawyer Festus Onyango (left) with his client Brian Lukato at the Kibera law courts in Nairobi on December 9, 2024.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation
Onyango's stellar performance in school hockey, winning national and regional awards and playing for the national team, led to Strathmore University, coached by hockey legend Meshack Senge, snapping up the 'A' student (82 points) straight after his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams and launching his club career.
“Immediately after my KCSE, I joined Strathmore University at the end of 2014 and played for them at the university games.
“It was in June 2015 that I officially joined the Strathmore Law School – under a sports scholarship – and continued playing for the Strathmore Gladiators in the KHU Premier League.”
While the Gladiators initially struggled in the KHU Premier League, they swept all before them in the Kenya Universities Sports Association (KUSA) championships, winning the 2015 edition with Onyango as the top scorer.
The Gladiators struck again in 2016 when they won the KHU Premier League, beating Butali in the final to retain the KUSA championship. However, their failure to qualify for the Africa Club Championships the following year led to an exodus of players that affected their league performance.
“A lot of rookies had to step into the team hence the performance wasn’t so good. But, individually, I won my first award as the top scorer of the KHU Premier League with 20 goals.”
Strathmore struggled to stay afloat, finishing mid-table in the 2018 season after again winning the University Championship. They were also at sixes and sevens in the 2019 season -- Onyango's final season at Strathmore -- and narrowly avoided relegation.
But there were positives to take away, with Onyango being voted the 2019 KHU Premier League MVP. After graduating from Strathmore Law School, Onyango signed for Butali Sugar Warriors at the end of 2019, but his debut was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In February of 2020, I had also joined the Kenya School of Law and we had to wait a whole year for my debut for Butali, which came much later on, in 2021, with the resumption of sports.
“At Butali, it has been a good ride except this season where we faltered a bit. In my first season in 2022 (which started in 2021) we won the league despite losing the final match and I was the top scorer of the league with 18 goals. In 2023, Butali won the KHU Premier League unbeaten and Onyango was the top scorer with 21 goals. This year, the sugarmen relinquished their title to Western Jaguars.
“Congratulations to them because they went unbeaten – we have to give them their flowers,” Onyango concedes.
“A special mention to their club president, the late Wilfred Mutubwa, for his efforts. It’s sad and disheartening that he did not get to lift his first trophy,” he adds, paying tribute to Dr Mutubwa, the founding Principal of Dr Mutubwa Law Advocates, Senior Lecturer and Dean at Mt Kenya University’s School of Law, who passed away last month, aged 42.
“Unfortunately, I also relinquished my top scorer’s trophy to (Emmanuel) Wiswa by a single goal – 11-10. But congratulations to him for his efforts,” Onyango adds.
His national team experience has been rich, enabling him to travel to over a dozen countries on national duty.
“I made my national team debut in 2016 at the World Hockey League in Accra, Ghana, and I’ve been in the team ever since, playing in 2017 at the World Cup qualifiers in Ismailia, Egypt, where we didn’t perform well due to lack of proper preparations."
He also played in the 2019 Tokyo Olympics qualifiers in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
“It was a very good tournament for me, individually, and probably the best to date because I was the runner up top scorer, only losing to Austin Smith of South Africa who scored all his goals from penalty corners. He scored seven goals and I managed five.”
Kenya finished fifth in Stellenbosch and took a break due to the coronavirus before returning for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Accra, where they narrowly missed out on the podium after losing to Nigeria in a play-off. Onyango was back in South Africa with Team Kenya last year for the Paris Olympic qualifiers in Pretoria.
“It was also a not-so-good performance as it was a transition period from the experienced squad into the rookies and the mixture of the veterans and rookies didn’t work well, coupled with insufficient preparations.”
His last international appearance was at this year’s All African Games in Accra, where Kenya finished fourth.
Mingling with Kenya's top athletes such as Mary Moraa and Julius Yego at the Accra Games was an eye-opener for Onyango, who gained a better understanding of the professional routine of Kenya's track and field stars and the importance of individual kit endorsements.
“I had a conversation with Moraa, the 800 metres world champion, and from that I got insights about how a pro athlete needs to train and how you keep grounded despite winning regularly, besides also how to fight against the competition.”
Onyango also has great respect for the coaches who have shaped his career, from Sembi and "Zorro" at Kisumu Simba, Odayo (Maseno), Senge (Strathmore and national team), Fidelis Kimanzi (Kenya national team) and Wilson Otieno (Kenya national team) to his brother Dan, who introduced him to the sport.
He is yet to specialise in his legal profession, and is still learning the ropes at Mwae and Associates while building his client base.
“I just got into my third year of practice and I’m still learning the different branches of law and figuring out which is the specific branch that I’d like to specialise in.
“And when you are starting out in the formative years, you don’t have a lot of clients so you have to give everything a chance before specialising later on in your career.”
“But it will be a challenge because the more years you get into law practice, the more the responsibilities are put on your shoulders," he said.
“I intend to play as much as I can. I think that is a safe bet as I always try to keep in shape because without training, as a forward, you lose your sharpness and eye for goal – we are judged on scoring goals and I still think I can do better in the game.”
But in the meantime, he desires to meet with Murkomen and midwife the players’ association that he believes will take Kenya’s sports management to greater heights.
“Festus’ passion in both legal and sports matters makes him an asset in Kenya’s sports space,” asserts his senior, Dorcas Mwae.
“That he plays hockey at the highest level and is also a fast-rising advocate makes him well-equipped to help out in legal and other critical matters of governance in Kenya’s sports management, as he knows very well where the shoe pinches.”
Date of birth: June 11, 1996
Schools: Victoria Primary School (Kisumu), Maseno School (Kisumu), Strathmore University (Nairobi);
Clubs: Strathmore University Gladiators, Butali Sugar Warriors;
East Africa Secondary Schools Championship: Runners-up (2013, 2014);
Kenya Universities Sports Association Championships: Winners (2015, 2016, 2017);
Kenya Hockey Union Premier League: Champions (2016, with Strathmore University Gladiators; 2022, 2023 with Butali Sugar Warriors);
Africa Club Championships: 2017 (fifth with Strathmore); 2019 (fifth with Strathmore); 2022 (fourth), 2023 (Bronze medal – Butali Sugar Warriors)
Top Scorer: Kenya Universities Sports Association Games (2015, 2016, 2017);
Most Valuable Player: Kenya Hockey Union Premier League (2017, 2019);
Top Scorer: Kenya Hockey Union Premier League (2017, 2019, 2022, 2023);
Runners-up Top Scorer: Africa Youth Olympics Qualifiers, Lusaka (2014).
