joto la jiwe wewe jamaa unayependa kulia lia hapa kwamba Tanzania imeikomboa Afrika, mfahamu Mkenya kwa jina Professor Washington Okumu aliyeleta pande mbili pamoja na kuwezesha uchanguzi wa South Africa wa 1994 kufanyika. Mangosuthu Buthelezi, kiongozi wa watu wa kabila la Zulu alikuwa amekataa kushiriki katika uchaguzi wa 1994 na chama cha ANC kikiongozwa na Nelson Mandela walishindwa kumbembeleza huyu jamaa kushiriki uchaguzi hadi huyu Mkenya alipokuja na kumshawishi Buthelezi kushiriki katika uchaguzi wa 1994.
Washington Aggrey Jalang'o Okumu
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Washington Aggrey Jalang'o Okumu (21 February 1936 – 1 November 2016) was a Kenyan diplomat, politician, academic and author, who rose to fame as the mediator that convinced the
Inkatha Freedom Party's leader,
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, to be part of South Africa's democratic elections in 1994, thereby ensuring a peaceful transition for South Africa's politics.
[1] He is also the author of two books: 'Lumumba's Congo: Roots of Conflict' published in 1962 and 'The African Renaissance: History, Significance and Strategy' published in 2002.
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Early lifeEdit
Okumu was born on the 21st of February 1936 in
Siaya county, Kenya, to Joram Okumu and Miriam Okello. His father worked as a health inspector at the time.
[2]
EducationEdit
Okumu's education was mainly in
Maseno's mission schools, but he also attended Ngiya Primary School, where he was classmates with
Barack Obama Sr., father to the former U.S President
Barack Obama. After his father's death in 1951, politician
Jaramogi Oginga Odingapromised to take care of his education.
[2] In 1956, Okumu completed his high school education, attaining the Cambridge University Overseas School Certificate. On the recommendation of the late
Tom Mboya, Okumu was selected to be part of '
The Kennedy Airlift', a program aimed at providing education for young and bright East Africans.
[3] Okumu attended
Iowa Wesleyan University in
Mount Pleasant. In 1959, he enrolled for the International Student Relations Seminar (ISRS), a summer programme at
Harvard University in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
[2] Okumu received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard in 1962. He also studied economics at the
University of Cambridge under the
Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan.
[1]
Okumu and ButheleziEdit
Okumu is credited as the one responsible for convincing the Zulu leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, to drop his demands for an independent Zulu nation and take part in South Africa's democratic elections in 1994. This was after a team of international mediators, whom Okumu had accompanied as special adviser, had tried and failed to convince Buthelezi.[5] This is said to have helped the country avoid bloodshed and conduct peaceful elections.[6]