Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at 10:36 AM
To: UT User <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>, Prof Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@mail.utexas.edu>, dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Fwd: Yet another loss...
Begin forwarded message:
From: Tade Aina <tade.aina@pasgr.org>
Date: November 16, 2016 at 7:04:45 PM GMT+3
To: "USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com" <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Fwd: Yet another loss...
Dear Ojogbon Falola,Warm greetings.You remember Dr. Washington Okumu with whom you were in Goree in 1994/95 during the negotiations with the ANC over the South Africa transition.He has joined the ancestors. A Pan-African, amazing and self effacing peace broker.I am sharing this from Dr. JP Ochieng '- Odero.I remember the time we all had in Dakar Senegal.May his soul rest in peace.Best,Tade
Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:
From: JP Ochieng'-Odero
Date: November 16, 2016 at 6:14:46 PM GMT+3
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Subject: Yet another loss...
Dear Friends
The good Professor is no more.
Professor Washington Aggrey Jalang'o Okumu breathed his last on 1st November, 2016 (http://www.obituarykenya.co.ke/professor-washington-aggrey- jalango-okumu/).
Obituary pages tell us that he will be planted (buried) coming Saturday 19th November at his Dala Kwe (Home of Peace), Bonde Village, West Migwena, South Sakwa in Siaya County.
It is thus to be recorded that last Tuesday, I lost yet another of my mentors.
The exploits of Jalang'o are legendary. We are told that `the man who in 1994, brokered peace between Nelson Mandela and Zulu Leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, thus paving way for South Africa
independence elections that brought the African National Congress (ANC) to power. Ahead of South Africa's Independence elections 20 years ago, Prof Washington Jalang'o Okumu had his fingers on the heart valves of history by single-handedly saving the epoch exercise from collapse and inevitable bloodbath'. Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/lifestyle/article/2000130292/ how-kenyan-saved-south-africa-from-slipping-into-chaos-after- apartheid
Sad. Not so much that he has gone ahead. No. Sad that he has died as uncelebrated hero. No medals of honor. no burning spears, nothing. It is as if he never existed. So sad to be a hero in Kenya.
I met with Jalang'o between in 1991. I was young, recently graduated with a PhD and raring to go. I was to work closely with him for the next five years
He, the late Professor Hastings W. O. Okoth Ogendo, Professor Adzei Bekoe of Ghana and Professor Ogunlade Davidson of Sierra Leone were charged by my other mentor, the late Prof. Thomas Risely Odhiambo to negotiate for the establishment of the African Foundation for Research and Development or AFRAND for short.
My role was simple but almost impossible. I was to be their minder, tasked with ensuring they delivered. The negotiations were complex. Bekoe (formerly of IDRC) spoke science while Ogunlade discussed technology. Okoth Ogendo translated these into legalese. Okumu's task was the most difficult. He described a concept known as debt-for-science-swap. This entailed swapping of Africa's debt for science funding. African governments needed to be convinced before the northern donors could part with money. It meant that Okumu had to convince ministers of finance and the heads of government. This he accomplished with eloquence and persuasive in his deep voice, dramatic gestures and burly posture.
He was highly connected. I recall once we were waiting for the heads of states arrival for a COMESA meeting in Arusha. Joachim's Chissano's delegation came along, and breaking all protocol, the president walked over to us and hugged Okumu. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda knew him by name, and after our closed door meeting, he bade us bye. Shaking Jalang'o hand, Museveni inquired about the health of the Mzee. We were perplexed. It turns out he was talking about the doyen of Kenya's opposition politics the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga!
We traversed this continent often in a country for only a couple of days. We met with the mighty in Addis, Gaborone, Kampala, Dar, you name it. They fondly and in jest often referred to me the 'Insect Man'. I am what I am today much due to them. Often, as we waited for our high-level appointments, the team would reminisce and tell stories beyond any imagination. Prof. Okumu would tell us of when a 5 seater aircraft almost did not take off at Kinshasa due to his weight!
`I use my kidneys' is a hilarious story that I have numerously used to stoke up party life. It is does not originate from me. It was narrated to us by the burly Professor.
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It goes as follows: Three medically insane fellows (call them Hawkeye, Trapper John and Nywele) are admitted to a psychiatric institution. For one to be discharged they need to undergo monthly medical reviews conducted by an appointed board. The content of the review is simple enough. You are asked to name different parts of your anatomy. Those who get it wrong are considered not well enough and are therefore not discharged. At the end of the first month of admission, the review board sits and asks the three to name certain parts of their body. Pointing to his nose, the chair of the board asks them to identify what the part it is. Hawkeye says 'eye' and fails. Trapper John says `tongue' and also fails. Nywele thinks hard and then answers `toe' and so he also fails. The process is repeated for two consecutive months without much show of improvement. During the fourth month, something astonishing happens. Both Hawkeye and Trapper John fail the test as usual. But not Nywele. He capably answers all his questions spot on. He is therefore promptly discharged. As he packs his earthly belongings, his two fellow inmates question him on how he was able to pass. His answer? Wait for it.... Pointing to his head, he retorts: `I am not like you guys. I use my kidneys!"
I will not forget how he told off the then white Governor of the Central Bank of Zimbabwe. We had finished explaining the purpose of our mission. Okumu had been uncharacteristically quiet. He then leaned forward and told the governor to his face in impeccable queen's English and deadly calmness: `In my frequent international travels, I have often discovered that the most backward countries are those that practice strict currency exchange controls'. Okoth Ogendo, could not hold back and burst out in laughter as the governor turned red as a beetroot.
The team delivered. Three Presidential Summits on Science and Technology were held (Gaborone, 1993; Maputo, 1994; Kampala 1995). A record of nine heads of state attended the Maputo summit including President Nelson Mandela. It was as result of
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their incredible negotiation skills that Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga of Zaire (now DRC) signed the charter establishing AFRAND though we had not set a foot in that country!
Jalang'o was an accomplished man of letters and an excellent first class human being.
Adios Prof. Till we meet again.
JPR
16 November, 2016
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