LAST WORD
On Academic Dwarfs
Ochieng vividly remembers the year he sat for his ‘ O ’ Levels . In that era Kenya and all the countries that were or once were under the British sphere of influence worldwide sat for the same examinations set at the Cambridge University .
That was the year the Watergate Hearings began and it was a global shocker since for the newly independent countries , who were still led by the ‘ Independence Fathers ’, it was inconceivable for a president to be impeached , especially an American one .
Ochieng , a keen current events enthusiast remembers that that was the year the US troops withdrew from Vietnam and although he could not narrate why the US and Vietnam were at war in the first place , it was a youth fad in the US to oppose the Vietnam War . A win for the anti-Vietnam brigade .
A whole generation in the US had been raised on the concept that the world needs peace and the anti-Vietnam war movement was the epitome of the open and popular
96 opposition
MAL52 to / 23 government ISSUE policy that
“ How does Kenya propose to progress if it is led by politicians with fake papers , engineers with fake papers , doctors with fake papers , lawyers with fake papers , architects with fake papers to name just a few unless we as a country collectively acknowledge that we are really running a fake country ! eventually led to many protests and the birth of flower power as a symbol of passive resistance .
That was also the year that the classic tragi-romantic movie ‘ A Warm December ’ starring and directed by Sidney Poitier was released and was the rage as it not only rekindled a sense of black achievement and pride but sparked a romantic groundswell in black teenagers .
But Ochieng was certainly not having a warm December because he had no clue on how to approach the object of his love intent Achieng who had also sat for her exams at the sister school but who did not give any indication that she was aware he existed .
To complicate matters , Achieng , a focused and known ‘ choppie ’ was definitely going to do well in her exams and Ochieng , although good in class worried that he may not reach her standard and therefore diminish the strength of his overtures , whatever method they took .