Makini Schools: Where Captain Koki enjoyed mandazi and nyama

By Mike Kihaki | 5yrs ago | 2 min read

**Makini, Captain Irene Koki [Photo: Courtesy]**

Makini Schools were established by the late Dr Pius Okello and Mary Okello in 1978. It was then called Riara Gardens Academy, a nursery school with eight children.

At the time the school was housed in a colonial bungalow, which doubled up as the residence of the Okellos.

The school moved to Kirichwa Road and changed its name to Makini Schools in 1981, but it wasn’t until 1996 that its first cohort sat for their KCPE, in which Kiplagat Sigei topped countrywide. He is now Dr Kiplagat Sigei.

Makini Academy (high school) was established in 1996 with 27 boys - girls were enrolled the following year. Makini Schools are now on Ngong Road, State House Road in Nairobi and in Kibos and Migosi in Kisumu.

Students have fond memories of sampling beef, samosa, mandazi and minced meat served by Mama Vio on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, before lounging on slabs near the fish pond and under the library ramp.

Makini, which considers Loreto Convent Musongari as a sister school, excelled in sports, including swimming, rugby and basketball. But most students did not take kindly to cleaning the swimming pool as punishment.

In 2018, Makini changed hands after Scholè, UK-based investors bought it.

Notable alumni still guided by the motto, “Fanya kwa Makini” include Dr Kiplagat Sigei, head of medical affairs at Novertis; Dr Marilynn Omondi, tutorial fellow at the University of Nairobi; and consultant general surgeon with special interest in surgical oncology, Erick Onyango; poet and co-founder Fatuma’s Voice and mental health ambassador and Dr Nchafatso, Gikenyi Obonyo, a cardiac and vascular specialist at KEMRI -Welcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya and Critical Care Research Group at the Prince Charles Hospital in Australia.

Others who donned navy blue trousers/skirts and sweaters with white shirts/blouses with black ties were Kendi Nkonge, songwriter and performing artist famous as the main character in the Tinga Tinga Tales; Daniel Mugo, professional photographer and founder of Image Zone; captain Irene Koki, Africa’s first female Boeing 787 Dreamliner captain; Roy Wachira, an entrepreneur and CEO of Foundry Africa, as well as Brenda Ochami, a lawyer and owner of Couture Culinary Excellence.

Others are Dr Josephine Muiru, an oncologist; Brian Opati, a theologian; Matilda Mukami King’oriah, an artist and fashion designer with MxM Africa Studio; Frank Raudo, an athlete and Christopher Nalo, the head of Kisumu Economic Social Council.