Malava Boys, where Shitanda ate ‘obusuma’

The coming of Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) to Western Kenya in the early 1900s, set the stage for establishment of many schools.

Malava Boys School in Kakamega County is one such school. The Quakers established the school in 1963, as a mixed day school.

In 1965, girls were phased out making the school a boys-only institution. Later in 1968, then President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta established a dormitory, laboratory and staff quarters in the school. It grew into a partial day and boarding boys’ institution.

Later it was turned into a full-boarding school, and today with 700 students, it is one of the major institutions in the country.

Seating on a 20-acre piece of land, there have been talks about turning the school into a constituent college of Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

The school has produced prominent figures, among them the late former Housing minister and Malava MP, Soita Shitanda, who schooled here in the mid-1970s. At the time, the celebrated cook Munialo alias Nyasaland made sure obusuma (ugali) was hot and tasty.

Other notable alumni include: Kenya Prisons volleyball team’s assistant coach Josp Barasa, who honed his skills in Malava — the school is today the volleyball champions in East and Central Africa, schools category. Journalists Luke Mulunda and Mukalo Kwayera also wore gray trousers and pullovers, white shirts and blue and white striped tie and got to enjoy meaty meals and porridge prepared by Senta Isaya, the acclaimed cook who retired recently.

The current principal Daniel Mwachi and retired District Commissioner Fred Mutsami and an Assistant Commissioner of Prisons Ngaira Mutevesi also hummed the “Strive for excellence” motto.

Others are Dr. Joseph Mbugua, an assistant professor University of Regina, Canada and Kenyatta University lecturer Dr. Joel Imbisi, Ayub Osinde, deputy principal Bishop Lusuli Theological College, Isaac Shaviya Nandi county Teachers Service Commission Director Isaac Shaviya and Likuyani education boss David Esemele Mwandihi.