Former convict Bernard Ouma Omondi savours glory

Bernard Ouma after he graduated with an engineering degree at the University of Nairobi on August 29, 2014. As a student, he had been convicted of robbery and jailed. PHOTO | JENNIFER MUIRURI |

What you need to know:

  • In 2003, Bena was charged with 24 accounts of murder, rape and robbery.
  • At 25, Bena’s life on the fast lane came to a grinding halt and he would cool his heels in a prison cell for six years.

As the 51st graduation ceremony was underway at the University of Nairobi on Friday, 36-year-old Bernard Ouma Omondi, or Bena, was beaming with joy at the second chance that life had handed him.

He left Kamiti Maximum Prison four years ago and returned to university after seven years to pursue his dream of higher education.

The sad chapter of his life began in 1998 when he first joined the University of Nairobi to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental and Biosystems Engineering.

After trying his hand in side-hustles such as hawking second-hand clothes to female students, greed got the better of him and he joined a gang of robbers.

“I met a friend who introduced me to his friends, who were armed robbers. They wanted me to store their firearms in my university hostel room for a fee,” he recalls.

WANTED

An informant told on Bena, a fourth year student, and his gang and before he knew it, he was a wanted criminal. The student-turned-fugitive attempted to escape to Lokichogio, but he was arrested in Kitale.

In 2003, he was charged with 24 accounts of murder, rape and robbery. At 25, Bena’s life on the fast lane came to a grinding halt and he would cool his heels in a prison cell for six years.

Life in prison was hell, he says. “I was in shock at first. I never thought I would survive.” Soon, he adapted and took “a long hard look” at his life. “I decided what I wanted to do with my life after prison.”

He was released in 2009 and he sought readmission to the university. Adjusting to normal life after years in prison was not easy. Bena says he went underground and lived in Kisumu for one year, where he sold fresh juice and fruits.

“Ex-convicts were being hunted down and killed. There was a Mungiki crackdown and I felt that my life was in danger, but that did not stop me from following up on my re-admission to the university.”

In 2011, he was readmitted and he started from where he had left off. “At first, I felt out of place, being in class with students who were much younger than me. I never interacted with them beyond academic work, but by the time of graduation, I had adjusted and most of my classmates are now my friends.”

Bena says he had to face the university’s disciplinary committee and the senate to plead his case before he was re-admitted. His lecturers, some of whom knew his situation, treated him well. “They realised I was an older student, but they treated me equal to the other students.”

Now a father of two and a university graduate, Bena is looking for a job. He is well aware that his past may hamper his chances, but he says he will not allow that to bring him down.