Renowned Scholar Bethwell Ogot Dies Aged 95

Bethwel Ogot, a prominent Kenyan scholar and researcher of Kenyan and African history, passed away at the age of 95 years at Kisumu Hospital after a brief illness.

His demise was confirmed by Siaya Governor James Orengo who mourned the chronologist as one of the greatest scholars the continent has ever had.

Governor Orengo, in a statement on Thursday afternoon, eulogised Ogot as a true thinker and intellectual who has left a legacy of seminal works and historical dissertations.

“Professor Bethwel Ogot is one of the greatest scholars of our time. He has left a legacy of seminal works and historical treatises. A true thinker and intellectual par excellence. He now ‘belongs to the ages’. Rest in eternal peace,” Governor Orengo commented.

Bethwel Ogot was born in 1929 in Gem Sub-County, Siaya County. He was the husband of the late Grace Ogot, a journalist and politician who passed away in 2015.

In his early life, Bethwel Ogot went to Maseno High School before proceeding for further studies at Makerere University and subsequently to the Univerity of London.

Ogot commenced his research work as a lecturer at Makerere University before he was appointed as the Head of the History Department at the University of Nairobi.

In 1975, he was appointed as a member of the East African Community (EAC) legislative Assembly where he served for three years before being appointed as the Moi Chancellor where he served up to 2013.

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, while morning him, praised the deceased for his professionalism and academic excellence as one of the greatest historians in the world.

Odinga in a brief statement, noted that Kenya and the world as a whole had lost a treasure who will be deeply missed and whose legacy will endure in the many works of history he left behind.

“Prof Bethwel Ogot was in the category of the now increasingly rare and outnumbered internationally known, deep, independent, and professional scholars who treasured academic excellence and the value of knowledge to a community and a nation,” Raila commented.

“His legacy will however endure in the many works of history that he leaves behind. I send my thoughts and prayers to his family and friends, as our nation mourns his loss.”