By Tsozungu Kombe
Mr. Lawrance Kahindi Majali, former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General, is currently enjoying his retirement in his home in Malindi Township.
Forced to step down from the helms of power in December 2010, Majali says life post-retirement is not as bad as he anticipated.
“Immediately after retirement, I enrolled for a Diploma in Leadership and Management course in Catholic University of East Africa, which I completed in 2013,” he vividly recalls.
He adds that being a founder member of the giant Imarika Sacco, he took a loan of Ksh10 million which he used to educate his children.
“My son is a trained tour guide. He has also partnered with the National Photographic Society of Kenya to take photos of historic sites. One of my daughters is a trained Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teacher while the other has a degree in Information Communication Technology and works with a private company in Nairobi,” he proudly revealed.
Majali went on to reveal that he also built a modern house in Nairobi and bought a ten acre piece of land in Malindi Township where he built a decent family house, which is his retirement home.
“I rear grade cattle and sell milk to the local Tourist Beach Hotels in Malindi town and its environs,” he added.
To keep himself busy, he carries out drip irrigation on his ten acre farm.
He also built a three-storey commercial building in Malindi town known as Marafa Plaza.
The plaza has a driving school and an academy.
Talking about his time as KNUT Secretary General, Majali says he brought a lot of developments to the teachers, amongst them signing of many Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) for teachers’ salaries.
In 2010, other top Union officials demanded that Majali should, for the last time, address the KNUT Annual Delegates Conference held in Mombasa.
The letter was signed by KNUT chairman George Wasonga and following the high pressure, Majali was forced to retire prematurely in December, 2010, instead of March, 2011, his due retirement date.
Majali started serving the Union in August 1980 when he was elected the KNUT Kilifi branch Executive Secretary. In December 1993, he was elected to serve as KNUT Assistant Secretary General, forcing him to hand over the responsibilities of KNUT Kilifi branch office to the late Joseph Kahindi Kingi.
Majali worked under KNUT Secretary General Ambrose Adeya Adongo and his then deputy Francis Ng’ang’a.
When Mr. Adongo passed on in 2000, Mr. Ng’ang’a took over as the new KNUT Secretary General.
Majali was elected unopposed as the new Deputy Secretary General.
He served in that position from 2000 to 2008 when he ascended to Secretary General position, which he held until December 2010 when he was forced to retire.
Majali urges Kenyan teachers to be dedicated to their work and to exercise a high degree of integrity, transparency, accountability and honesty while discharging their daily duties.
“The trend will enable you win the trust of the people you serve,” he said.
He urged teachers to join Saccos and invest heavily so as to get bigger loans to accomplish their personal development projects.
“Many people have accomplished their personal development goals by taking loans from Saccos,” he explained.
Majali was born in 1950 in Magarini Sub-county, Kilifi County. In 1956, he joined standard one at Ganda Primary School in Malindi Sub-county.
In 1959, while in class four, he sat the Common Entrance Exams and passed to join class five at Kakuyuni Intermediate School in 1960.
In 1963, he sat the Kenya African Primary Examinations (KAPE) but failed to get the required marks, forcing him to repeat and passed very well to join the Sacred Heart High School in Mombasa.
“There were only five African students in the school,” he says.
In 1968, he sat the form four examinations called Cambridge School Certificate (CSC) and scored Division Two.
He disclosed that he passed the General Certificate of Education (GCE) in 1968 and even received the pass standard in the Oral English Text.
“Our form four certificates were signed by two people: The Chairman of East African Examination Council (EAEC) and the Vice Chancellor University of Cambridge,” he said.
He added that EAEC was under the supervision of University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicates.
In 1969, Mr. Majali joined Kenya Science Teachers College in Nairobi to train as a secondary school Science teacher. He could not take the offer since he could not raise the required fee.
In 1969, he was employed as an untrained Science teacher by Malindi Harambee Secondary School.
He quit his teaching job in 1970 and went for training at Shanzu Teachers Training College. He completed his teaching course in 1971 and in 1972, was posted to Matsangoni Primary School.
In 1973, he was posted to Holy Ghost Mission School to wok as a head teacher up to 1980 when he joined KNUT.
