The book The 5th Columnist: A Legendary Journalist tells the life story of Philip Ochieng’ as told by Liz Gitonga Wanjohi. It is a tale of a great journalist who learnt the ropes on-the-job.
Dr. Joyce Nyairo, a cultural analyst, admits that the brilliant biographer took an incredibly difficult task of putting into words the life of one of the greatest grammarians in the country.
Foremost, Wangethi Mwangi, former Nation Media Group editorial director, contends that Philip Ochieng’ enjoyed his life socially and intellectually.
Those who went to school with him posit that the great journalist excelled in English right from the onset. Later in life, he taught good grammar through his well-woven newspaper columns.
Ochieng’ described himself as a freelance grammar teacher. No wonder, Dr. Tom Odhiambo, a literary puritan at the University of Nairobi, commented that avid readers of Kenyan newspapers described Ochieng’ as a language doctor, philosopher, editor, social historian and careful critic.
He was a seasoned scribe that straddled the East African media landscape like a colossus. Tracing his background from his humble and simple peasantry upbringing at Awendo in Migori County, the putative author narrates the story of a precocious person with a penchant for learning from a fledgling stage.
Ochieng’ joined Alliance High School (AHS) in 1955. In those years of yore, Edward Carrey Francis was the headmaster of that giant boys’ school. The educationist, who earlier on taught at Maseno School, instilled discipline among students. Every Friday, he delivered pep talks touching on a wide array of topics.
Tom Mboya and Ochieng’ were close-knit friends. During the school holidays, Ochieng’ spent time at Mboya’s house in Ziwani and later in Lavington, Nairobi. Occasionally, Mboya paid Ochieng’s school fees and gave him pocket money.
Ochieng’ was in the first lot of the 81 Kenyan students who left the country in 1959 for further studies in America. He was among nearly 1,000 students from Africa who secured scholarships to study in the best American universities up to the mid-1960s.
Unfortunately, while in America, Ochieng’ never completed his undergraduate studies.
Despite that, he became a towering intellectual whose beautiful brilliance dwarfed those who had acquired several degrees in life. He had intellectual knowledge on virtually any topic spanning from the Greek Mythology to the Bible, from literary classics to oral tradition, Astrophysics to ancient history.
When he dropped out of Roosevelt University and flew back to Kenya in 1961, Tom Mboya rescued him from intellectual oblivion by helping him secure a second scholarship to study in France.
In actual sense, Ochieng’ was not a trained journalist per se. Instead, he studied English language, Literature and French. Due to real zeal and zest, he rose through the ranks in the newsroom and became a great journalist.
He first joined Nation in 1966 when Michael Chester was the news editor. Ideally, it was at The East African Journal that he perfected his sub-editing skills. Therein, he also interacted with luminaries in the literary world like Okot p’Bitek. He edited his celebrated poems such as Song of Lawino, Song of Okol, Song of Malaya and Potent Ash.
Together with literary giants like Taban Lo Liyong, they strategised on how to Africanise the Literature department at the University of Nairobi (UoN).
It is instructive to note that the great journalist also authored I Accuse the Press and co-authored The Kenyatta Succession with Joseph Karimi.
Conversely, Ochieng’s style of writing became a subject of debate. Some people with limited vocabulary accused him of grandiloquence and magniloquence: the use of high-flown language. Which begs the question: Who was Ochieng’ really writing for? On his harsh rebuttal, he blamed such lousy readers for suffering from mental blocks that barred them from digesting his messages.
The late former President Mwai Kibaki awarded him the coveted Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya award in 2004.
In January 2010, he was in the task force that reviewed the current education system to align it with the new constitution.
Ipso facto, due to his cache of experience in the field of journalism and his vast knowledge on virtually all areas of life, Ochieng’ was often picked to advise the government on various issues. When the Kenya Yearbook Editorial Board (KYEB) was formed in November 2008 as a state Cooperation, Ochieng’ was one of the journalists on it.
In a morbid sense, in 2021, the grim reaper plucked him from the garden of life at the age of 83. He is silent and absent in our major writing spaces, but his spirit lives on in scribes like us. We keep his life and legacy alive by weaving words on daily basis.
By Victor Ochieng’
The reviewer is an editor, author and peripatetic public speaker.
vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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