Holy smoke! Inside Wajackoyah's 17 degrees

Prof George Wajakoyah

Roots Party of Kenya leader Prof George Wajakoyah in court on May 18, 2022. 

Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group

Roots Party presidential candidate, Professor George Luchiri Wajackoyah, now nicknamed 'Wajackoyah the fifth', paints the image of a reggae artist, what with his durags and professed love for the holy herb.

Since declaring that he will be running for presidency, Kenyans on social media have been posting memes of the statehouse in smoke, depicting how bhang, which remains illegal in Kenya, will be smoked in celebration of his winning.

However, the 63-year-old presidential candidate is little known for his 17 degrees.

With a Phd from Walden University, Professor Wajackoyah has practiced law for 25 years.

After completing his high school studies in 1980 from St. Peter Mumias Boys High School, the professor studied policing and criminal investigation at Kenya Police Training College in Kiganjo, and graduated as a police officer. 

He would then join the CID Training School to pursue security and intelligence studies.

The academy, which is under the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), was established to enhance capacity of Kenya’s police officers and their efficiency in conducting criminal investigations.

At the height of the late foreign affairs minister Robert Ouko’s death, the then intelligence officer, who was in charge of gathering intelligence on the matter got in trouble with the government, and was detained and torture.

Post release, he fled to the United Kingdom, from where he farmed for his law degrees.

There, he enrolled at University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where he studied certificate in comparative laws, before proceeding to University of Westminster to pursue a legal practice course.

While living in the UK, Professor Wajackoyah also pursued postgraduate diploma at Maastricht University, studied economics and refugee law at World University Service and bagged himself a bachelor of laws degree at Universities of Wolverhampton. 

He would also pursue masters in law at development at University of Warwick and another LLM at University of London School of Oriental and African Studies.

He eventually opened a firm that dealt with immigration, before relocating to the United States of America, where he served as an educationist.

There, he studied Masters in law of USA at University of Baltimore and Master of philosophy at Walden University.

He also studied criminal and civil litigation at American Heritage University of Southern California, where he also served as an adjunct professor of law.

From Kenyan institutions, Professor Wajackoyah has a diploma in french from Kenya Institute of Administration, a post graduate diploma in law at Kenya School of Law. He also studied laws of Kenya at Riara University.

The Ganja president, who is also a law lecturer at United States International University(USIU) is now expected to launch his manifesto on July 2, 2022.

He has promised to liberate Kenya and make it a better place to live in.

He has also promised to legalize marijuana, which he says will be exported to earn the country income, as well as snake farming for production of anti-venom. The snakes, says the professor, will then be exported to countries like China, where it is a delicacy.

If elected, the professor pledges to create eight prime minister positions, to suspend the constitution for six months, and to allow Kenyans to work for four days in a week, from Monday through Thursday.