That management consultant Dick Oneko, son of freedom struggle icon, Achieng Oneko, supports President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party sent tongues wagging. Most thought he should have been ‘Corded’ - not knowing the long history of the Kenyattas and the Onekos.
As we mark this year’s Mashujaa Day, let us remember the only Luo jailed at Lokitaung Prison for ‘managing the Mau Mau,’ for which he pleaded not guilty, telling Judge Ransley Thacker that, “I want my lawyer!” The court did not find Oneko guilty, and he didn’t finish the seven years, hard labour sentence, as lack of sufficient evidence got him spirited to Manda Island Prison instead.
Ramogi Achieng Oneko: He was in Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta’s first Cabinet as Minister for Information and Broadcasting. Born in Tieng’a village in Uyoma, Bondo, in 1920, Oneko’s first job after leaving Maseno School was as a weather reporter for the Meteorological Department. Then he tried his hand in politics in 1949 when he became one of the first African municipal councillors in Nairobi. The editor of Luo newspaper, Ramogi Weekly, in 1945, was also secretary of the Luo Thrift and Trading Corporation founded by his friend Oginga Odinga. The husband of two had 11 children. He closed his gate at 87 in 2007.
Dr Ong’ong’a Achieng: The former managing director of the Kenya Tourist Board played on London’s Collingham Gardens with Thabo Mbeki, Oburu Oginga and the children of Algerian revolutionary Ben Bella, while staying at Kwame Nkrumah’s Africa Trinity House as his father negotiated the independence constitution at Lancaster House. The Russian speaking alumnus of Moscow’s Friends University (PhD, economics), is married to a Russian. The banker, lecturer and hospitality specialist now lectures at the Technical University of Kenya.
Dr Olola Oneko: Is an obstetrician gynaecologist at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Moshi Tanzania, who has been applying the technique of cervicography to diagnose cervical cancer. This technique uses a camera to make an image of the cervix during a pelvic exam. The cervix is painted with acetic acid (vinegar) and the early changes of cancer are visible on the magnified photograph.
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Lwande Oneko: The alumnus of the University of Nairobi (Education) and University of Illinois (Masters in Entrepreneurship Development) went into salt processing and coffee roasting under Kenya Industrial Estates before venturing into capacity consultancy in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean in curriculum development and training of trainers and entrepreneurs.
Claire Oneko: Granddaughter shunned politics and law. The alumnus of Riara and South Africa’s Midrand High School and Afda is a film director and producer.
