The name was an honour, though more than 90 years too late, to Odera Akang’o, a paramount chief who reigned in parts of Nyanza during the British colonial rule.

Residents of Yala area and several parts of Gem in Siaya District still hold Odera in awe. He is remembered for introducing schooling, dressing and hygiene in the area. Stories are told of how Odera forced mothers to attend schools with their sons to learn how to read, write and speak English. It is believed this is part of the reason there are many professor from Gem than any other constituency in the country.

And now, Moi University has put more into that legacy by naming a campus after him, a fitting tribute to a colonial chief who left education as his biggest gift to his people and which they have treasured with pride to date.

The Standard on Saturday sought to piece together the life and times of the mystical chief through his grandchildren and villagers who witnessed his reign or have heard his story.

Odera’s a legacy goes beyond education although with the low side that he favoured boys over girls, when it came to learning. Ignatias Omolo, a chief who served before and after independence Kenya says Odera died in 1918, shortly after being released from prison in Kismayu, Somalia.

Odera’s influence, Omolo says, has waned through generations though education is still regarded highly.

A book by renowned historian Prof Bethwel Allan Ogot, himself a native of Gem, suggests that Odera discriminated against girls.

Ignanias Omolo at a building in Yala believed to have been a private jail; a dark side to Odera’s leadership. Photos: James Keyi/Standard

The chief punished parents who did not send their sons to school.

Ogot writes that Odera ordered every village elder to compile names of married men and their male children.

Those parents whose children did not go to school were severely punished.

"Although girls were not going to school, mothers attended the same classes with their sons and were taught reading, writing and religion," Ogot writes.

According to Ogot, Odera helped instil discipline and hard work.

Ogot’s father, the late Mzee Paulo Piche, was Odera’s personal assistant. The historian also credits Odera with introducing rice, sugarcane and new banana and maize varieties in that part of Nyanza.

The turning point, the historian says, came when Odera, among other senior chiefs from Nyanza and the then Wanga Kingdom in western Kenya, visited Uganda in 1915.

The chiefs had been invited for the consecration of the Namirembe Cathedral in Uganda organised by Bishop J.J Willis.

The paramount chief’s great grandchild George Owiti.

On returning Odera made two radical decrees to the people of Gem. He ordered schools to be built and that all his subjects replace traditional attire with modern clothes.

"He made the people of Gem to become Jonanga (people of clothes)," says Ogot, referring to the entry of western clothes into that part of the country.

From then, education became compulsory in Gem.

Odera’s childhood

According to Ogot, Odera’s father, Oloo Ramoya, had six wives. Odera rose to the top in 1900 when a British administrator, CW Hobbley, moved from Mumias to establish an administrative headquarters in western Kenya.

"Hobbley appointed one Odera Ulalo as the chief and Odera Akong’o was among those chosen to assist him," Ogot writes.

He later moved from his father’s home in Alara village and started his own in Gem Nyamninia.

George Owiti, 27, a great grandchild of the chief, says their great grandfather is reported to have had 14 wives, but only one child, Christopher Oloo, who died in the 1970s.

A constituent college of Moi University named recently after Odera Akang’o. Many schools in the area were built on his orders.

But Omolo says Odera had settled where St Mary’s Yala School is, before he re-settled in Nyamninia around 1902.

"He voluntarily moved with his family to Nyamninia, about three kilometres to pave way for the construction of the school," says Omolo.

Owiti says that his great grandfather had five known grandchildren, including his father, but only one is alive.

The lone survivor, Midiwo Oloo, is said to have moved to Ndhiwa, Homa Bay, in 1980, after the family vacated their land to give way for the erection of the KBC mast.

"I have never seen him (Oloo), but we are told he is still alive," says Owiti, a farmer.

John Ker, 68, whose father was Odera’s guard, says the chief was an orphan, who was brought up by a stepfather, Sande, who was also once a chief.

Odera’s parents, Ker says, were Oloo Ramoya and Adhiambo nyar Alego (from Alego).

According to the retired teacher, Odera was an administration police officer for Buganda’s King Mutesa II. He then came back and lived with Sande before taking over the reins in Central Kavirondo."

Ker says while in Uganda, Odera learned English and Kiswahili, which worked against his stepfather.

"One day, a DC from Kisumu came for baraza but found Sande absent. When he showed up later, he tried to explain his absence," he says.

Sande’s explanation was that he had gone around the village collecting eggs for the DC. However, he was interdicted immediately.

At the Baraza, Ker says, Odera was the DC’s translator. Odera is said to have taken advantage of his knowledge of English to front himself as Sande’s successor. He took over the reigns destroying his relationship with his stepfather.

Odera then took off to North Kavirondo and forged friendship with king Mumia Nabongo.

After consolidating his leadership through Nabongo and Mutesa II, Odera set out to change the lives of his subjects through education and empowering them economically.

With support from the colonial government, he built a number of primary schools in Gem, including Uranga, Wagai, Malanga and Nyamwinina.

Akang’o was born during famine, and his fist name Odera, means one born during hunger.

Omolo and Ker say Akang’o built communal granaries, at his several farms where food harvested in Central Kavirondo was stored.

"He had a knack for making residents till their land, to avoid dependence on food handouts," says Omolo. He explains: "If one asked for a banana, he ordered that the person be given a bunch.