Moi mourns law scholar, describes him a gentleman

By Wahome Thuku

Former President Moi has mourned the late Prof Hastings Okoth-Ogendo.

In a statement Moi said he had known the lecturer for a long time.

He said Prof Ogendo was a renowned constitutional law scholar and described him as an admirable gentleman.

The University of Nairobi constitutional law lecturer and researcher died at a hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday.

He had travelled to Ethiopia on the auspices of the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa.

Ogendo, one of the leading law scholars in Kenya, served as vice-chairman of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, deputising Prof Yash Pal Ghai.

Born in 1944 he attended Maseno and Alliance High Schools, University of East Africa in Dar es Salaam and Oxford University before proceeding to University of Yale.

He has also taught in Boston University Law School, New York University.

Ogendo also contributed in various legal forums and written widely on constitutional law.

The family is making arrangements to transport the body from Ethiopia for burial in Gem, Nyando District.