Rank: Chief Joined: 5/9/2007 Posts: 13,095
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From FB Quote:By Koech Chemelil
It is said that it is unafrican to speak ill of the dead. Whoever came up with this rule did not have the late Prof. William Ochieng in mind when he came up with this draconian rule.
Flashback to 1994. We join Maseno University College. Green from the village, we all are full of optimism. Ochieng comes in to welcome us. Even today, I shudder when I think of the arrogant manner the man welcomed us.
But this did not prepare us for what was to follow. Prof. Ochieng, buoyed by his close association with the powers that be then, presided over the most oppressive regime ever to be seen in the precincts of a University in Africa.
Resentment to authoritarian rule grew. Student engaged the authorities in frequent street battles. Militancy in the student body took root.
I remember the rude welcome for us the freshers being forced by our seniors to the battlefront one fateful day. It begun with what comrade Ndolo KwaOsango, by then an uncompromising student leader, described as 'living the spartan life' at Maseno under William Ochieng. It was a baptism of fire for us.
The late Ochieng struck venomously. Frequent suspensions of students, intimidation and outright harassment in an environment replete with Gestapo doctrines became the norm rather than the exception.
Two men stood to claim their dignity and that of the entire student body: Ndolo KwaOsango and one man called Masai. They fought a losing battle with a determined tyrant, but their heads were held high.
The great poet, Countee Cullen once said that if we must fight, let us not fight like pigs penned in an inglorious spot; that we must resist oppression always. Ndolo and Masai fought.
Ofcourse they paid for it with their blood. The tragedy that followed was the arbitrary suspension of academic programs. It took some of us close to six years to complete our courses. All this blamed on the inability of William Ochieng to use dialogue because he was a 'professor of History!'
I remember Ndolo KwaOsango telling him that he was only a professor because he had been born earlier than him!
I was to later have my own encounter with William Ochieng when he wrote to me a letter for writing articles that were deemed inflammatory. How he got to know me as the author is still a mystery to date. He warned me on words that still cut my heart to ''desist from your devilish acts'' as his investigation ''had revealed that you are the author of an anonymous article tittled 'The Malevolent Hands of Fate.'
The article was a harmless piece bemoaning the brutal murder of a student leader (Muruli) at UON.
It is the collective pain of those who suffered under Ochieng's malevolent rule that we seek to purge with this piece. We hope to exorcise the ghosts of Ochieng's tyranny in the end.
BWe mourn a man who chose to teach us the 'ulimwengu way'. Rest in Peace William. I know that as a critic, you will accept the fair assessment of the tattered spirits of your former students.
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