Eric Edward Khasakhala, known as "Omwana wa Kwendo" (26 March 1926 – 14 July 2000) was a Kenyan politician, educationist, Pan Africanist, independence activist, Cabinet Minister and one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya. He was a participant of the delegation at the negotiations for Independence at the Lancaster House Conferences; he was instrumental in the formation of Kenya's Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) party, which he served as one of the party officers. The KADU advocated for the federalist post independent Kenya.Hornsby, Charles. "The Social Structure of the National Assembly in Kenya, 1963–83." The Journal of Modern African Studies 27.02 (1989): 275-296.
Khasakhala was a political protégé of Esau Khamati Oriedo who indoctrinated him into politics and the early trade union movementSpencer, John. The Kenya African Union. Taylor & Francis, 1985., that led to the formation of Kenya African Union (KAU)—the first truly all-inclusive pan-ethnic Kenyan political movement.Kenyatta, Jomo, and Paul Halsall. "The Kenya Africa Union is Not the Mau Mau, 1952." (1998)Nye, Joseph S. "Patterns and catalysts in regional integration." International Organization 19.04 (1965): 870-884. Unlike his mentor, Khasakhala embodied a non-provocative, amicable political style, which endeared him to foe and comrade alike. Moreover, akin to his mentor, he embraced reconciliatory strategies and pan-ethnic Kenyanism. These are qualities which he acquired in part due to his formative years when he assisted his father who was a preacher and as a member of the aboriginal Ebwali village council of elders. These qualities earned him the recognition of the colonial governor, Sir Patrick Renisson; which occurred during Khasakhala's tenure as the headmaster of Ebwali African Government Primary school. Afterwards, he was transferred to Lunza Secondary School at Butere in Kisa where he served in the dual capacity as both teacher and headmaster; thus, becoming one of the first native African headmasters of a secondary school in colonial East Africa. During his tenure as the headmaster of Lunza Secondary School, the school witnessed extensively improved all-round academic outcomes. Preceding his vacating from an academic vocation, Khasakhala had become one of the most successful academicians, at the early educational level, in the colonial Kenya; a feat of great accomplishment du jour.
He started his successful political career in 1957, when he was elected secretary of North Nyanza District Congress. Moreover, in 1961 he was elected to the legislative Council of Kenya—popularly known as the LegCo—as a representative for the Nyanza North electoral constituency. He was later to be elected the first Member of Parliament for Emuhaya in 1963. He held the post of a regional vice-president for Western Province, one of the seven regional vice presidencies in postcolonial era Kenya period spanning 1966–1970.Bulimo, Shadrack Amakoye. Luyia Nation: Origins, Clans and Taboos. Trafford Publishing, 2013.Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard) Dec 4, 1979 - Jun 18, 1980Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard) Feb 6 - Mar 20, 1970Kenya Gazette 19 Dec 1969
He was an ardent champion of literacy and early education in Kenya; and was very much at home serving as an Assistant Minister for Education in the early 1960s in Jomo Kenyatta's cabinet. During his tenure as an Assistant Minister for Education he spearheaded the restructuring of the early education system infrastructure in embryonic postcolonial Kenya.
Albeit his relaxed reconciliatory and non-provocative amicable political style, which endeared him to foe and comrade, alike; Khasakhala was an ardently uncompromising advocate of social justice for his Nyole/Nyore people of Bunyore, a subtribe of the Luhya or Bantu Kavirondo, who were being marginalized and their land purloined from them by the more homogeneous and colonial era politically better connected archenemies the Luo tribe or Nilotic Kavirondo. Maseno settlement and township was one of the several key flashpoints. In 1965 as a member of the House of Representatives at the dawn of independence, he successfully defended the location of Maseno as Bunyore, to the chagrin of Okelo Odongo a Luo and fellow member of the legislator; the protagonist engaged in a bitter exchange from which Khasakhala would not back down. During the debate, another post-independence MP, lawyer Argwings Kodhek a Luo went as far as to claim that Khasakhala was behind the burning of his five houses.
Khasakhala was a cabinet member during the Kenyatta and Moi administrations. He maintained his positions through different political leadership changes. He did not hold a position as a full Cabinet minister during his career.
Biography
Early life and education Eric Edward Khasakhala was born at Ebwali village in the British Colony and Protectorate of Kenya in Western Kenya, to Zakayo "Daktari" Kwendo and Damary Oyando on 26 March 1926. His father was an illustrious local preacher, and the first medical doctor and a clinical officer in Bunyore;EMMAN OMARI, Daily Nation, 22 June 2011 hence the nickname of "Daktari" (Kiswahili term for physician). His parents were the Luhya (Bantu Kavirondo) people of Bunyore; a gerontocratic acephalous society with a representative system of governance and collegial leadership structure composed of mainly a council of elders, theirs was a collegial system of Barraza to which his grandfather had been a member. Thus, Khasakhala's formative years were spent as an apprentice of his father—often assisted him with his various preaching and doctoring initiatives; it's also quite likely that Khasakhala, as the eldest son, was at his father's side the Barraza sessions. This might account for his amicable reconciliatory political style since the Nyore council of elders were key instruments of resolving conflicts among the populaces of their boroughs, as well as any inter-clan disputes.
Education Khasakhala was educated at Church Missionary Society (CMS) mission schools and sat for a Cambridge School Certificate at Maseno High School; the oldest formal education school in Kenya, established in 1906 by the CMS Missionaries as a school for the children of African chiefs. He was schooled at Ebwali intermediate then joined Maseno Junior School then Maseno Secondary School (Present day Maseno High School).
Professional life In concordance with the Nyore Luhya people of Bunyore—Bantu Kavirondo—traditions, Khasakhala, the firstborn male child, was groomed to succeed his father at an early age; whereby he horned his interpersonal, inter-psychic, and public speaking skills, he also developed an effective inter-relational acumen that served him well throughout his political career. After his father succumbed to illness and died on 13 July 1955, Khasakhala at age 29 became a political protégé of Esau Khamati Oriedo who indoctrinated him into politics and the early trade union movement.
Before immersing in politics, Khasakhala was a successful educationist—teacher and later promoted to become one of the African principals of a secondary school. Indeed, remained educationist at heart. Antecedently, he vehemently—he postcolonial Kenya—advocated for a robust education infrastructure throughout life. Needless add that his first cabinet appointment was Assistant Minister of Education, charged with crafting Kenya's first postcolonial educational system during the Kenyatta regime.
He was one of the first African members of the colonial legislatures, when in 1960 the colonial government ordered a nationwide election for 14 African Legislators to the colonial parliament. Khasakhala was the winner of the combined counties of Marama, Kisa, Maragoli, Tiriki and Bunyore; he became the first legislator for the combined region. In 1962 Khasakhala, together with the other 13 Members of Parliament, were taken to Britain for one-month edification on political governance and the parliamentary system. Upon their return to Kenya, they spearheaded a campaign that increased the number of legislators from 14 to 150. Eventually, new constituencies were created nationwide. The four regions Khasakhala had represented were split into four legislative constituencies. During the 1963 embryonic postcolonial era elections, he became the first Nyore to represent Bunyore in the national parliament.
Eric Khasakhala is remembered for the tarmac road from Luanda to Majengo.
Educationist Before Khasakhala was immersed into politics, he was one of the first aboriginal African principals of an early education school in the colonial era Kenya; a progression from his illustrious teaching career which he had embarked on soon after completing his high school education at Maseno High School in 1944. As an educationist, he received commendations for his exemplary performance by the then Colonial governor Sir Patrick Renisson. Khasakhala was a strict disciplinarian who did not tolerate tardiness and an excused absenteeism from his students.
He was a teacher and later the headmaster of Ebwali Primary School at Bunyore. Afterwards, he was transferred to Lunza Secondary at Butere in Kisa where he served in the dual role of both teacher and headmaster; thus, becoming one of the first African headmasters of a secondary school in colonial Kenya.
A champion for restructuring the highly fettered and subjective colonial education system, as the first postcolonial cabinet member charged with overseeing the education system, Khasakhala inherited a pyramidal British colonial educational system. While political figures the likes of Tom Mboya focused on sending Kenyan students for higher education abroadShachtman, Tom. Airlift to America: How Barack Obama, Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours. Macmillan, 2009.—because East Africa had no true colleges—Khasakhala endeavored to develop the necessary academic infrastructure locally within Kenya. An independent Kenya would need an infrastructure to educate a generation of future nation builders. William X. Scheinman, a businessman and philanthropist, had observed that an independent Kenya would require a cadre of well-educated native bureaucrats, educators, businessmen, doctors, lawyers, and engineers; in Ghana, because such a cadre did not exist, Nkrumah had to retain many white colonial administrators.
Many of his educational initiatives became stagnated or rolled back following his defeat to Wilson Mukuna in a polemical one-party political system parliamentary election of 1969.
Struggle for Kenya's independence In 1948 Khasakhala resigned from his teaching career and entered the national politics. The same year, at the behest of his uncle and political mentor—Esau Khamati Oriedo, who was a founding member of KAU—he joined the KAU party to fight for liberation, and was made the Secretary of the Party; a move that made him popular among his Bunyore people and nationwide.
During the turbulent pre-independent times, Khasakhala who was a representative of Bunyore in the Legislative Council (LegCo), hosted both Oginga Odinga and Tom Mboya at Kima to fetter their whereabouts from colonial authorities seeking their arrest and detention. Moreover, the two political heavyweights had brought to Kima financial resources from the US to facilitate Bunyore's struggle for Kenya's independence. be brought at Kima so that it could be used to fight the whites. Khasakhala was a representative of Bunyore. It was at this juncture that Khasakhala who was a founding member of KADU, and one of its senior officers announced his intention to ditch KADU and join KANU. In appreciation, the wealthy Oginga Odinga gave him a vehicle. However, it has been rumored that the vehicle was some sought of harsh money for allowing the annexation of Maseno by the Luo in Nyanza.
Political career and leadership