Why Prof Wainaina's story matters to KU and the nation

Prof Paul Wainaina welcomed by KU students. July 27, 2022. [File, Standard]

I have often pondered what becomes of a person when their truth becomes inconvenient. What happens when a clear and steady voice is judged disruptive in a society that rewards ambiguity, compromise and silence? I came face-to-face with this when I started following the story of Prof Paul Wainaina. These are questions that have followed me for many years as a scholar, a writer, a university administrator and as a careful observer of public life in Kenya.

The same questions stayed with me as I wrote the foreword to Prof Paul Wainaina’s autobiography. And it is the same questions that continue to trouble me whenever I look at our institutions, our leadership culture and our uneasy relationship with truth. Wainaina has performed an act of worship by telling his story.