Prof. H.W.O. Okoth-Ogendo taught me land law as a postgraduate at the University of Nairobi. He was a brilliant scholar and a good teacher. The last time I saw him alive was in Kampala where we were both attending the Regional Workshop on Land Issues in Africa held on April 29 - May 2, 2002 at Hotel Africana. We drank fine wine, for which he had an excellent taste. Prof. Okoth-Ogendo was a soft-spoken deep thinker. He walked with a characteristic forward bend you could miss. He towered among African and global scholars and was a friend of many, both lowly and mighty. His razor-sharp mind endeared him to many who would not allow him to slow down even when his health begun to fail. He never shied from taking on demanding challenges. As Vice-Chairman of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission he set out to accomplish that which is seen as a stumbling block to good governance in the country. In my conversation with a friend, he reminisced that (Prof. Okoth-Ogendo) “would have been a natural for the constitutional review… he is brainy, not chauvinistic…He now goes to his grave knowing that we have not taken (full) advantage of his skills”. He was a fighter who fought a good fight. Rest in peace!
