Prof Shem Migot-Adhola (second right), the then council Chairman at Kenyatta University, with the then Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero (centre), Deputy Governor Jonathan Mueke (left), Mwangi Muthee (second left) and acting KU Vice-Chancellor Prof Paul Wainaina (right).
The nickname “Arudhi” is used in Luo culture to depict a strong fellow; a brave and fearless one. This is a fellow you can always rely on to deal with any difficult situation, with dependable and clear outcomes.
Prof Shem Migot-Adhola — who died this week on Tuesday — was, in the motto of the Alliance High School, “strong in body, mind and character”.
I was a junior boy in Form Two when Shem came for his A-Levels at Alliance in the early 1960s. He had previously been a school captain at Maseno School.
And, at Alliance, he became my dormitory prefect in Wilberforce. The following year, he was my house prefect.
Shem exuded a presence that gained respect with little attempt on his part. In other words, he was a born leader.
From Alliance, he went for his undergraduate degree at the University of Dar es Salaam, subsequently continuing for a postgraduate degree in sociology at the University of California where he became outstanding on rural sociology, especially on land tenure systems and land social justice issues.
It is from this point of departure that his long-lasting involvement with the World Bank and scholarly discourses on rural sociology grew and lasted a lifetime.
At the University of Nairobi’s Institute of Development Studies and beyond, the name of Prof Shem Migot-Adhola will remain writ large in perpetuity. In 1999, he would be picked as one of the technocrats in President Daniel arap Moi’s “Dream Team” as Agriculture Permanent Secretary.
When I was appointed the Minister for Planning and National Development by President Mwai Kibaki in the reform government of the National Rainbow Coalition in 2002, the first person I reached out to was Shem.
I told him that I would need a driving vision in my development and planning docket, and I needed to sit down with just a few people to think this through.
Subsequently, this team should help me come up with an “economic and social council” to help me shape the agenda for my ministry.
Shem sent me a note, which I have kept to this very day, which simply said: “I agree; but that group must comprise few and serious people.”
We eventually zeroed in on himself, David Nalo and the Economist Monica Aoko.
We had our first meeting at Lilian Towers before the Cabinet was announced.
Shem helped me to lay the intellectual foundation for my new job.
It is no wonder then that this man of integrity, clear thinking and sound leadership served in so many leadership roles: investment banking, university chancellorships, global policies consulting for diverse international and national bodies and research institutions.
Shem’s publications appear in many academic journals and books in research institutes and libraries all over the world.
In that regard, his ideas will remain immortal. He has been a quintessential example of a public intellectual who will forever remain a beacon of inspiration for the young ones to emulate.
The writer is the governor of Kisumu County and acting ODM party leader
