- Ezekiel Machogu has urged teachers to support the families of departed colleagues during Dr. Dennis Omari’s burial in Riokindo, Kisii County.
- Machogu has called on the Teachers Service Commission and unions to institutionalise support systems, including education funds for teachers’ orphans.
Former Cabinet Secretary for Education Ezekiel Machogu has called on teachers to uphold community values by respecting and supporting the families of their departed colleagues, saying such support is critical for the continuity and dignity of the families left behind.
Machogu spoke at Riokindo village in Kisii County during the burial of Dr. Dennis Omari, who died after a long illness. The ceremony was attended by several politicians and government leaders, among them Bomachoge Borabu MP Obadiah Barongo, Trans Nzoia County Commissioner Gideon Oyagi, and present and former Bokimonge MCAs Amos Ondrto and George Bibao, respectively.
Addressing mourners, Machogu said the teaching profession carries a moral obligation that does not end at the classroom door.
“Teachers always remain teachers even after changing their career,” he said, drawing reference to former African presidents Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia. “Both Nyerere and Kaunda were teachers before they entered politics. They never stopped teaching. They taught nations. That is the mark of a teacher. Once a teacher, always a teacher.”
He urged teachers in Kisii and across the country to stand with bereaved families, attend funerals, offer counsel, and help children of departed colleagues remain in school. “When a teacher dies, the family should not feel abandoned. The staff, the union, and the profession must hold them. That is how we ensure continuity,” he said.
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Dr. Dennis Omari leaves behind a widow and two children. He was the son of the late MP Joel Onyancha of Bomachoge Borabu, whom Machogu recalled as one of the most visionary leaders the region had produced.
The late Joel Onyancha served as a high school principal for many years before venturing into politics and becoming Bomachoge Borabu MP. Colleagues and constituents describe him as a leader who carried the discipline of the classroom into public office, remembered as a grassroots mobiliser and development-focused leader who pushed for schools, water projects and market infrastructure in Bomachoge at a time when such projects were not popular.
Coming from the chalkboard, Onyancha was a strong advocate for bursaries and teachers’ welfare, arguing that an educated constituency was the only lasting wealth. His death left a vacuum in Bomachoge politics, though his name still commands respect in Kisii, with many elders at the burial saying his style of servant leadership, rooted in his years as a principal, is what the county still needs today.
Machogu prayed that Onyancha’s legacy would continue through the next generation. “I pray for his son, Clive Onyancha, that he grows to be a prominent man in future. The seeds that Joel planted must not die. Let Clive carry the torch with integrity and service,” he said.
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Linking the two stories, Machogu said the examples of Nyerere and Kaunda, and of teachers like Onyancha who moved from the principal’s office to Parliament, show that teaching is a lifetime calling. “A teacher teaches in class. A teacher teaches in the community. A teacher teaches by how they bury their own,” he said. “Let us not allow the families of our own to suffer in silence. Respect them. Hold them. Walk with them.”
He called on the Teachers Service Commission, unions and school heads to institutionalise support systems, including education funds for orphans of teachers, psychosocial support, and regular visits to bereaved families.
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