President Uhuru mourns the late Professor Calestous Juma

The late Professor Calestous Juma

World-renowned Professor Calestous Juma has died at the age of 64 while undergoing treatment in Boston.

He was a professor of the Practice of International Development and Director of the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.

The Kenyan-born Harvard professor was internationally recognised for his immense contribution to science, technology and innovation.

Calestous Juma who was also an author was among the first African Science and Environmental journalists. Before he died, the professor who has several publications under his name was working on a new book titled: A New Culture of Innovation: Technology, Entrepreneurship and Prosperity.

He was also named among the top 100 Africans for three years running from 2012 to 2014.

Professor Juma died just a week after the burial of his mother, leaving behind one wife and a son.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has condoled with the family of the late professor, describing him as a distinguished scholar and partriot whose dedication to Kenya’s cause showed in his founding of the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) in Nairobi.

“Those who had the pleasure of meeting him — or communicating with him online and off — will testify to his warmth, his love of learning, and his great generosity. Whoever you were, he replied quickly and courteously, eager to let you have the benefit of his learning and experience. We will miss him,” added President Uhuru.

Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed mourned Projessor Juma saying, “I have received the news of the passing on of my friend, compatriot and a role model Professor Calestous Juma, with a deep sense of great personal loss. May his soul rest in eternal peace.”