It has been a journey for me, Okuku Kola, son of Kabondo Ramba. Being that I am graduating with a Master’s Degree today, 11th December 2025, from the University of Nairobi after a study period of exactly 2 years, I am very happy with the achievement, and I will take you through a series of experiences and lifelong lessons laced with nuggets of wisdom. Thanks to our maker, Nyasaye Obong’o Nyakalaga, for the supernatural care and protection during the pursuit of my dream life.
Graduation is a very significant rite of passage in the life of academicians. It is a moment of reflection, celebration and thanksgiving. Let me expound on the three inherent dimensions of experiences associated with graduation.
- Graduation as a reflection
My academic thirst began in our remote village of Kanyakila Opanga in Kodumo, Kabondo Ramba, Homa Bay County. It was evident during my primary schooling at Awuor Dimo Primary School, where I was an academic giant who could not be defeated by anyone from Nursery to Class 8. Position One was mine across all the levels. I was very optimistic that I would join a prestigious high school after KCPE, but fate had taken a different route for me. By the time I was done with my primary school and ready to join high school, our home was empty because death had camped there and swallowed all my parents. Our house became the headquarters of death. Circumstances forced me to attend a tiny day school in our Kodumo area, called Owiro Mixed Day Secondary School in Kolondo.
The secondary school was so low and full of hardships. There were no facilities in the school. No lockers, no dining hall, no laboratory, no experiments, no library, and inadequate teachers, among other scarcities. Our total population across four classes (Form 1-4) never reached 70 during the four years I was there. The highest we ever reached was 67, from Form 1 to 4. Over the 4 years, some subjects could not be taught due to a teacher shortage; we took lunch under trees, shared desks, borrowed laboratory equipment from Ogilo Secondary for main exams such as the Rachuonyo District Mock and KNEC, and faced other hardships. I really suffered academic suffocation in the village school due to the inadequacies. I still commanded position one from Form 1 to Form 4.
After Form 4, I joined Kamwenja Teachers College, a professional baptism institution in Nyeri. During my several journeys to Nyeri, I would pass by Nairobi City, where I used to see the University of Nairobi within the confines of Uhuru Highway and University Way. Along the Thika Superhighway was another premier university, Kenyatta University. I really admired the two city universities, but I could not join them due to poverty. I made a declaration that ipo siku nitasoma kwa those two universities. When I started working, I began strategising about how to join the two universities. I made a firm resolution to study at the most prestigious and most expensive universities in the capital city, using my own money.
After some years, I joined Kenyatta University and paid the fees using my own money. I graduated with a First Class Honours Degree. I then immediately joined the University of Nairobi, using my own money. I have never taken out a loan to finance my studies. Nobody has ever sponsored my university education. All the university fees have been paid out of my own pocket. Before I joined university, I had made it clear that I had to enter the most expensive public universities for a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree to show that I could fight poverty and seek revenge by reaching the places it denied me and securing what it blocked me from achieving early enough. The fees at Kenyatta University were the highest in Kenya during my Bachelor’s Degree programme, and the University of Nairobi’s fees have also been the highest in Kenya during my Master’s Degree programme. I have managed to finance my education on my own.
I have completed my Master’s Degree at the University of Nairobi within the stipulated two years. The programme’s total financial cost has been around one million. It required a lot of economic, intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual fitness. Having all those fitnesses within two years has been so demanding, but I have managed to graduate in record time, as recommended.
During my Master’s Degree Studies, I engaged in extensive qualitative and quantitative reading to enhance academic rigour. Coursework was so demanding, and the thesis work in the second year was even more challenging. It started with concept development, then proceeded to proposal development, proposal defence, proposal comments matrix response, research permits and licences applications and approvals, research tools development, data collection, data analysis, report writing, thesis defence, thesis report comments matrix response and final report submission—all the stages required approvals by my supervisor and other authorities. The two oral defences were very intense experiences that required a high level of intellectual wherewithal because you had to convince a panel of veteran professors that your research made significant contributions worthy of academic standards. I successfully managed all procedures and processes between September 2023, when I joined, and December 2025, when I graduated, for a total of two years.
- Graduation as a celebration
I have enjoyed sitting in the shade of success commissioning today with my academic agemates at the Chancellor’s Court Graduation Square of the University of Nairobi. It has been a dream come true. Some have taken more extended time than others, but the graduation regalia has made us agemates today. This achievement did not come easily. I worked late nights, pushed through doubts, and overcame obstacles that stood in my way. Today, I celebrate my resilience, my enhanced value and my commitment to excellence. Earning a Master’s Degree is a testament to discipline, courage, commitment, focus, sacrifices and passion. I deserve to stand tall with pride because I have earned a Master’s Degree through a very rigorous academic process.
- Graduation as a thanksgiving
I must start by commending myself for being very faithful to my dream life. I have maintained maximum loyalty to my vision for years. I have experienced a lot of delayed gratification and sacrifices. My strategies towards my dream life have been very fruitful.
Secondly, let me thank the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi, where our programme is anchored. It is a very prestigious institute full of experts worth mentioning, like Professor Winnie Mitullah, Professor Karuti Kanyinga, Professor Paul Kamau, Professor Mohamud Jama, Professor Joseph Onjala, Professor Rosemary Atieno, Dr George Michuki, Dr Anne Kamau, Dr Herbert Wamalwa, Dr Samwel Ngigi, Dr Murimi Njoka, Dr. Rahma Hassan. These are erudite scholars of lustrous reputation in the global realms of scholasticism. They connected us with the international scholars who served as Guest Lecturers during the coursework. We had opportunities to interact with Professors from continents such as Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia, and Africa. Professors from Western Africa, Eastern Africa, Northern Africa, Southern Africa and Central Africa were all involved in our programme enrichment during the weekly seminars. They empowered us with global perspectives on Development Studies as a discipline. They dissected themes such as Human Development, International Finance, Global Governance, Project Management, Macroeconomics, and Microeconomics, among other nitty-gritty aspects of Sustainable Development, with admirable exactitude. The physical conferences with ministry officials and United Nations ambassadors were so equipping and worthwhile for scholars. The greatest asset at the University of Nairobi, beyond any University in Kenya, is the Human Capital. It is the University with the most professors. It also has well-established traditions and disciplines. At the University of Nairobi, you connect with the best academic community that hosts well-published scholars. I must also extend my kind regards to all members of our Economics and Development Studies Department, under the stewardship of Professor Martine Oleche, the Department Chairperson.
Thirdly, I must pronounce here that I will be eternally indebted to my Supervisor, Professor Winnie Mitullah. She walked with me through the noble journey of the thesis phase, from the conceptualisation of the research topic to the final oral defence. The professor is a great scholar with vast experience in global, regional, national and local research. She is a perfectionist who approves only of fine, polished academic work that can sustain intellectual discourse. She is very keen on details and extremely thorough in sound scientific thinking. She baked me correctly, and I am very grateful for having her as my supervisor.
Fourthly, let me thank all my classmates with whom we studied. We attended lessons, did group study, completed projects, assignments, and presentations, and took exams together. We also attended seminars and conferences together as academic twins. The heated debates and discussions were very healthy in shaping our thinking about development. It is my pleasure to acknowledge and thank all my classmates and wish them well in their future endeavours. You were an excellent social infrastructure in the academic swimming pool cum intellectual bakery.
Once again, I thank the Almighty God for seeing me through this journey of Master’s Study. The Lord has granted me the desires of my heart and also blessed the works of my hands. It is indeed Glory to God in galore.
Bravo to the 2025 Class of the University of Nairobi, which I am part of. I have tasted the superior brand of the University of Nairobi.
Your Development Scholar,
By Okuku Kola.
Son of Kanyakila Opanga Village in Kodumo within Kabondo Ramba, Homa Bay County.
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