Fare thee well Karl Marx aka Owiro Christopher

Yes, aka Christopher because everybody knew Karl Marx, Chris as I always called him- I know he wondered why- was a Science student at Chiromo Campus who was always in a hurry and full of energy. I knew Marx in my first semester and as soon as I became my Class Representative, Marx asked to buy me a drink, a very shrewd man. From there, I had a friendship with him beyond the usual deceit ridden student activism.

Years later Columnist Philip Ochieng’ would write that every market has a mad man and Karl Marx was the University of Nairobi mad man. By this time things had started to change, and for sure my good friend needed a good public relation strategist. To me, he started going down the moment he started getting involved with women who did not mean well and the ladies took advantage. The scandals increased to a point where he claimed on TV camera how he had given a lady KSH. 0.1 Million. That is Marx for you, never lacking words to explain anything.

I love mad men; my respect goes to Robert Alai, Boniface Mwangi, Kajairo and Cartoonist Gado, these are all to me ‘mad’ men forget Hon. Sonko. It is my best columnist Charles Onyango-Obbo who put it clearly one day, that apart from men of honour and integrity, it is mad men like Che Guevara and Fela Kuti who are brave enough to seek brave new worlds for their societies. To me, Karl Marx the ‘mad’ man had no apologies to be mad.

Many people thought this man spent over a decade at the University of Nairobi for an undergraduate course. I don’t blame them, unlike most student activists who spend their first two years building a base, Marx burst into the University and Kenya’s political scene in his first year. The University did not know that they had admitted a man who would redefine the dormant keg that was student activism. He quickly started pushing for the re-introduction of the banned student Union SONU which he managed in 1998 and renamed it SONU98.

The students could trust the radical Marx to push the administration to re-introduce SONU, but never trusted him with leading it. He ended up reviving the Science Students Union and chaired it for one year. Even without a formal position in the student government, he was a force you couldn’t just wish away.

Karl Marx did many things to uplift the welfare of students; he championed the conversion of Stella Awinja Guest House into a hostel. He always argued for students with fees arrears who were kept out of exam rooms to sit for the exams. In short, a student’s problem was Karl Marx’s problem and this is where I have come to appreciate the mantra- pick your battles. He never saw a fight he did not want to jump into.

Outside of that was an intelligent orator with exceptional mobilization skills. Karl Mark to me was a mathematician, unlike me who did mathematics to pass exams, he could explain everything mathematically. He once took the Vice Chancellor, Professor Gichaga through a calculus proof of why the Parallel Programme is flawed. The next time, he used the same formula to predict that the KANU/NDP merger will not work out and for sure it dint. It is great brains that are always prone to self destruction and Marx was no exception.

Another of Marx habits was his weekend morning briefings outside Hall 10. He would wake up at about 10 am and take on students questions which he would answer with a mixture of humour and eerie attitude. He would then watch the 1 o’clock news on TV and disappear from Campus. He made Hall 10 a hub of Nairobi social gossips.

I will cherish the times I spent with Marx, minus the propaganda and side shows, I met a master strategist who could push an agenda to the end. I might have disagreed with him on ‘how to’ several times, but I still remember Chris asking me to keep off student activism, which I tried but the system had absorbed it.

Behind the radical Marx, was a generous man whose heart went out to the suffering of the common man. A lover of nature and a good hockey player; he was a product of Kisumu Day High School when the school ruled national hockey championship.

Rest in Peace Jakorando B; like Martin Luther King Jr and Che Guevara, I know you have died at your time. Great men hardly see their fortieth birthday. Rest in Peace.