Seizing the Moment: How Canon Awori raised one of the most powerful families

Title:Seizing the Moment – The Amazing Story of the Awori Family.

Authors:Horace Awori and Kondia Wachira.

Publisher:  Afritell Publishers 2017.

Book Reviewer:Odhiambo Orlale.

For the first time, thanks to a new book,Seizing The Moment, Kenyans and the world have an opportunity to enter and peep into the life of one of the country’s most famous and talked about families in politics, the corporate world, business, academia and social life.

The 307-page book authored by Horace Awori and Kondia Wachira, is a story of the Awori family, which has produced the who-is-who in and outside government both in Kenya and in neighbouring Uganda for the past half a century.

The compelling story is about this large family of 16 siblings, led by their father, the first Anglican Church of Kenya Canon Yeremiah Musungu Awori. The family has defied all odds and read the signs correctly, and been on record as producing achievers in the two countries.

Indeed, it was remarkable when two of the Awori brothers were a breath away from the presidency in Kenya and in Uganda at the same time.

They were Moody Awori, also fondly referred to as ‘Uncle Moody’, during his tenure as Vice-President of Kenya, between 2003 and 2007, under President Mwai Kibaki; and Aggrey Awori, who was also bitten by the bug of politics in Uganda, where he served as a Member of Parliament for many years before making history in 2001 when he dared to vie for the presidency against President Yoweri Museveni, and finished third.

Moody Awori served as MP for Funyula in Busia for 25 years, and as Kenya’s longest serving assistant minister before his elevation to the vice-presidency; while Aggrey served as MP for Samia Bugwe in Uganda, before being elevated to Cabinet Minister in charge of Broadcasting and Information Technology by Museveni.

The two are among the children of Canon Awori who have excelled in the professions of their choice in and outside Kenya.

The pioneer Canon is described in the book as “a great leader among the early Anglican priests in Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda” who became the first Luhya to be ordained as a priest in Western Kenya, which he used to play a leading role in reaching out and converting thousands of residents in that region.

THE AWORIS

Before writing the book, the authors reveal that Afritell Publishers had first stumbled on the Awori story in the run-up to the 2013/14 edition of the Kenya Book of Records series, when it was decided to seek and highlight top families in Kenya in terms of collective family achievements.

“We spent a considerable time researching the Aworis, visiting them in their Nairobi homes and fact-finding in their respective rural homes. We now believe that we have a good story to tell — a positive story — that will inform, entertain and challenge at the same time,” the authors say in the prologue.

The duo has called it a “famography,” essentially an interrogation of several generations of a family, in an attempt to separate time, familial and circumstantial dynamics that help determine how a family “grows,” interacts and transmits from generation to generation.

The authors estimate that the oldest known Awori patriarch, Nambanja Muka, was born in 1785, and hence the famography (family tree) spans 230 years!

According to the authors, the fruit of Canon Awori’s efforts together with the inculcation of strong Christian virtues in the 1930s has seen his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren record spectacular success in various fields in the public and private sectors.

Among the long list who are household names are: Dr Nelson Awori (pioneer transplant surgeon and kidney specialist); Dr Mary Okelo (first female manager at Barclays Bank and founder director of Makini Schools); Hannington Awori (former board member of several blue chip firms and is a former technical director, East Africa Industries (EAI), which has since been renamed Unilever); Prof Judi Wakhungu (former Environment Cabinet Secretary), Jeremy Awori (managing director Barclays Bank); Horace Awori (journalist); W.W.W. Awori (former Nominated Member of the Legislative Council in 1952 to represent North Nyanza, later renamed Western province, and is a former editor of Hansard (verbatim reportage of all parliamentary proceedings); Joshua Awori (Commissioner of Anglican Church of Kenya); Horace Awori (author); Denis Awori (Kenya’s Ambassador to Japan); and Wasio Awori (architect) among others.

The patriarch of the Awori family had also served as a member of the North Kavirondo (Western province) Local Native Council, but his greatest legacy is that eventually, as a model Anglican Christian, he and his wife, Mama Mariamu, brought up a large family of 16, who now rank among the most successful in Kenya and Uganda made up of top notch lawyers, engineers, politicians, surgeons, journalists, educationists, athletes and diplomats. The eldest of their siblings, Musa, was born in 1920, but died two years later of a snake bite.

Indeed, in the foreword of the book, the Rev John Tucker Sentamu, the Archbishop of York in the United Kingdom, describes it as “a fascinating read, rich in story and detail.”

Family has made big impression

Politics and the Awori family have been synonymous for close to a century, thanks to the patriarch Canon Yeremiah Awori of the Anglican Church.  

Canon Awori married Mariamu in 1919 at the age of 26 years and, by the standards then, could afford a bride wealth of 20 head of cattle. They were blessed with 16 children, three of who plunged into politics and left an indelible mark.

The Awori patriarch was the first member of the North Kavirondo Local Native Council in 1925. Other than his three children who went into politics and became household names, the other 14 followed their hearts and were great achievers in their chosen paths in surgery, banking, sports, law, academia, writing, diplomatic service, the corporate world and business.