Why we should celebrate Okoth-Ogendo’s life

Every once in a long while, the cruel hand of fate robs us of a giant too soon. At such moments, we forget that death is an integral part of the cycle of life. We celebrate births and mourn deaths.

In the case of Professor Hastings Winston Opinya Okoth-Ogendo – an unquestioned pillar of the science of law – we have lost a rare giant. Even as we mourn his departure, I urge that we celebrate his life.

It is not that I agreed with everything that Professor Okoth-Ogendo wrote, said, or did – in fact I disagreed with plenty. But it is indisputable that the totality of the man’s life was a remarkable gift.

I first met Professor Okoth-Ogendo in 1979 as a first-year law student at the University of Nairobi where he was Dean. I was immediately struck by the man’s physicality.

He had a concentrated intensity that was most visible on a face that was both complex and studious. You knew without doubt right away that you were looking at an intellectual – a learned thinker who interrogates and produces ideas.

There was a rotundity and solidity about the man that assured you that he was a keeper of academic wisdom. He commanded respect and attention from students and peers.

Professor Okoth-Ogendo did not attain the status of an academic célèbre without hard work. He was one of the first Kenyans to obtain a doctorate in law.

He did so at the prestigious Yale Law School in 1978 when it was unheard of for Kenyans to study beyond the bachelor of laws. He was a pioneer who made it possible for others to dream big.

For a young state like Kenya, he was a role model and a source of inspiration. It was rare for blacks – African or Diaspora – to go to the exclusive Yale Law School back in those days. Professor Okoth-Ogendo opened doors and broke barriers.

But Professor Okoth-Ogendo’s lasting legacy is the written word. He wrote with insight, clarity, and depth. My favourite piece is the one entitled “Constitutions without Constitutionalism”. There are few concepts that describe the African state with such pithiness and somber reality.

Great national charters

In the piece, he names and describes the genre of a state that adopts great national charters which are no more than the paper they are written on. His description of the African state became a pivotal influence on scholars of constitutional law.

That piece has been quoted far and wide by scholars around the globe. There are not many pieces by Kenyan scholars that have attracted such success. I only wish that he had written more.

It was because of his brilliance as a legal scholar that Professor Okoth-Ogendo was invited to teach at several universities abroad, including the United States.

He was a valued visiting professor at New York University Law School and Boston University Law School. In both schools, he exposed a largely American student body to challenges of the application of various legal subjects in Africa. He received rare reviews in those schools.