By Nyambega Gisesa

Life has been kind to Tom Namwamba. He has a nice job, money, looks and brains. Perhaps that is why in his 19 years as a lecturer, mostly teaching philosophy and creative writing at Kenyatta University, the 49-year-old’s popularity among students has never been in doubt. Yet these very supposed virtues have sometimes worked against him. 

Rumours about his personal life had always swirled, but the academic chose to ignore them. However, last year they took a nasty twist when a blog published a story that he was giving female students ‘sexually-transmitted marks’. In a word, he was accused of sleeping with female students in exchange for giving them good grades. It got worse when it was further alleged that he tried to rape a student.  

“When I first heard of the sex-for-marks rumours, I brushed them off as mere nonsense. Then, they went on and on and on,” he told The Nairobian.

Namwamba had had enough. Late last year, he recorded a statement with the CID asking for the blogger to be investigated for publishing false allegations against him. Six months later, nothing much has come out of it.

“We are investigating the blog and have made contact with someone who we thought was a moderator but he has not responded,” Hannington Chumba, one of the investigators in the case, said.

When these allegations were exposed to the public, his wife and extended family became worried. Worse still, Namwamba had just got married to Celestina Chepkorir at the Attorney General’s chambers last June last. They now have a daughter, Zenane Amelia.

“My in-laws were worried. They called my wife trying to establish the truth,” he recalls.

But his decision to go public made him the first Kenyan lecturer claimed to be involved in sex-for-marks scandal to take on his accusers head-on.

“Some of the claims are used as bench marks for promotions. So, I will not keep quiet and see my career and family ruined because of lies,” he said.

“I announced that anyone with information that I have slept with my students to better their grades should report me to the police or the university with specific details. No one has done that.”

And the abrasive academic went a step further. He published details of his HIV/Aids status on social media, after the circulation of rumours that he was infecting his student victims with the virus. The lecturer’s union is accusing students and the public of being unfair with their sex-for-marks accusations.

“There is a growing attempt to malign the characters of lecturers. No single case has ever been brought forward to me. How do we establish if all that is said is true?” University Academic Staff Union (UASU) Secretary General Prof Sammy Kubasu said.

Prof Kubasu said it is sometimes difficult to find out whether sexual relationships between students and lecturers are based on mutual consent or on promises for better grades.

“Students and lecturers are above 18 years old. They can have sex if they want although such an act is unethical,” Dr Kubasu said.

- ngisesa@standardmedia.co.ke