Adan Makina
WardheerNews
October 1, 2020
The
name Philip is derived from Greek and it means “fond of horses” or
“horse-loving.” In other languages, Philip is equivalent to Filippo or Filip.
There was the historical Saint Philip who is mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels
especially in the Gospel of John (1:43–51). Our own Philip Ochieng is a former
editor of the Daily Nation and still, keeps on watching over the use of grammar
in his “Mark My Word” column. A prominent linguist and a true Kenyan, African
and a distinguished journalist of literary repute, Philip Ochieng, like his
namesake Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great and Phillip III who ruled
the Kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC and was
the mastermind of what we know militarily as Phalanx, has been accused by his
opponents as a bigot who defended the government of the day. The
boy who experienced rural life finally got the chance to attend Alliance High
School–the only of its type those days. However, his move to the United States
to pursue a BA degree at Roosevelt University failed to materialize, since, out
of 1,000 students, Ochieng was the only one who never graduated.[i]
Since you don’t need ‘As’ and assortments of degrees to climb the ladder of
success in life, I wish to honor him in this essay while he is a living legend
contrary to the human traditional concept of showering praises after the
departure of the souls of their key prominent figures.
Going by the Prophet Muhammad's saying, “He who
does not thank people, does not thank Allah” (Ahmad, Tirmidhi), is a testament
to Islam's respect for every human being regardless of religious beliefs. The
saying is not limited to only Muslims but to everyone and that's why I have
taken to the keyboard to thank the greatest grammarian and editor in Kenya Yetu
(our Kenya). For over thirty years, though I did not follow up with his
literary contributions frequently, Philip Ochieng has been in my heart mainly
because of four favors he provided me back in the early nineties. It was an era
when few Kenya Somalis contributed to the media. However, we had our own
Mohammad Warsama who was a towering, prolific writer. He was honored in the
early eighties for being the best correspondent in Kenya by the newspaper he
served with dignity and respect to the satisfaction of his superiors.
Philip Ochieng deserves showers of praise for
being impartial in his selection of essays or articles and “letters to the
editor section” respectively. After publishing my first short letter to the
editor in the early nineties with the title “We Need Water” that I wrote with
the help of my childhood friend Abdisatiir Warsame in the middle of the night
when the taps ran dry even though the meandering Tana River was a walking
distance from Garissa, I felt relieved with the feeling that the concerned
authorities would take action to overturn the rampant water shortages. As noted
in my letter that “we have no technical or hydrological reasons not to have
water”, unfortunately, due to the poor leadership and administrative styles
that were common those days, my grievances fell on deaf ears.
Unbeknown to the water department, by then, I
and my buddy, were fully-trained Water Resources Engineers. Under the auspices
of the West German Gesselschaft Fur Technische Zussammenarbeit (GTZ) popularly
known as the German Technical Cooperation, the intensive training that we
benefited in the early eighties could have made remarkable contribution to the
hydrologically ineffective and retarded water department of that time.
Though I can't recall the chronological order of
my letters, one was related to the burning of Soko Mjinga aka Suuq Mugdi (dark
market). Since it was the eighth time the decrepit market got engulfed in
flames intentionally or unintentionally, those who knew before it was turned into
a makeshift market will attest to the fact that the place was a graveyard for
local saints who passed away at unknown varying dates. Even though you don't
need to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to extinguish fire, still,
you'll need to have knowledge of the different types of fires and the right way
to suffocate flammable and inflammable materials and their levels of
combustibility.
Fifteen years earlier, I had mastered the ABCD
classes of fire extinguishers where 'A' stood for extinguishers for putting out
combustibles such as wood and paper, 'B' for gasoline, grease and oil that are
flammable liquids, 'C' that is exclusive to electrical fires and the major
extinguisher being foam, and 'D' for metallic elements that are flammable. On
the other hand, I was also taught a different type of ABCD that stood for
Atomic Biological Chemical Defense together with NBCD for Nuclear, Biological,
Chemical, and Defense.
My third letter was on the resettlement of the
newly arriving refugees from Somalia at the sparsely populated village of Ifo.
My greatest fear was the unexpected deforestation that was to follow after the
refugees got resettled in a new landscape that was lush green and teaming with
wildlife. My previous experience with Africare Incorporated in Somalia allowed
me to put together a strongly worded letter that attracted little attention
from the authorities in Kenya. The knowledge I gained from our former American
Foresters and the only sole sociologist I was assigned to work with as a Social
Science Field Assistant who is currently a Professor Emeritus allowed me to
refocus on the imminent repercussions of deforestation and the social
absurdities that were to follow afterwards.
Philip Ochieng did not discard any of my
contributions to the daily newspaper at any time, for he was, to my belief and
conviction, an editor whose editorial focus on subject matters appeared
succinctly defined and entirely peremptory. Thus, in an era when modern
Information Technology (IT) had not infiltrated Kenya, on my part, the only
means of communication with Philip was through handwriting and letter mail
delivery. Even though "I had no penny to my name" due to the
encompassing unemployment in North Eastern Province (NEP) followed by years of
deliberate brutality and massacres that were orchestrated by heinous successive
dictatorial civilian regimes, the concept of “we have nothing to fear but fear
itself”–a phrase taken from America's 33rd President Franklin D. Roosevelt
during his inauguration day in 1933 when the current mighty but declining
America was in deep depression and the identical Qur'an (Al-Maida 5: 44) and
Biblical exhortations “Fear God, and not man” (Matthew, 10: 26-28) were
entombed in my mind and heart.
“Miraa Should Be Classified Illicit” was my fourth
letter Philip posted on Kenya's most prestigious newspaper. The article started
with the decrying message: "the major factor hindering development in
Garissa District is the high consumption of Miraa. “Miraa is considered to
be a nutritious stimulating herb that is capable of easing frustrations and
uncontrollable obstacles facing a consumer." The article, despite
attracting the wide attention of readers, did little to reduce its consumption
to this day despite the current global COVID-19 pandemic. Consumed since the
era of ancient Egypt when pharaoh's reigned supreme for elevating the consumer
to a god-like stage known as Apotheosis, Miraa whose botanical name is Catha
edulis, remains endemic to Yemen, Ethiopia and Kenya respectively.
Little do many Kenyan’s know
about Ochieng’s biography, The 5th Columnist: A Legendary Journalist (Longhorn,
2015) by Liz Gitonga-Wanjohi. The former editor-in-Chief
also authored: I accuse the press: an insider's view of the media
and politics in Africa (Nairobi: Initiatives Publishers: ACTS
Press, 1992). Though I
have never read any of those books before, in the meantime, what matters most
to me is to pull up my socks, wrap up my hands as a pugilist to strangle the
sudden hand strains and stiffening tendons when punching the keyboard, and tell
the truth about Philip Ochieng.
To wrap up my prolonged article, allow me to
seek the helpful hands of Kenyans and international readers to support me in
honoring our living grammarian and literary doyen, our Fidus Achates Philip
Ochieng whose name has been in circulation for several decades because of his
awesome literary apabhramsa.
This article appeared on www.wardheernews.com on October 10, 2020.
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