By Dennis Weche 
The drums of Lugusi beat with a sorrowful cadence today. Their solemn echoes roll across the undulating hills of Malava, carrying with them the heavy lament of a people who have lost more than a leader. We have lost a son, a scholar, a statesman, and a custodian of our collective wisdom. The towering baobab that was Malulu Omwana We Injendi has fallen, but his roots remain deep in the soil of history, nourishing the generations to come.
Born in 1966 among the proud Abasonje clan of the Kabras, Malulu was, from the start, a child of promise. The village elders must have whispered among themselves, seeing in him an unusual hunger, an insatiable yearning for knowledge. Even as his peers chased dragonflies in the Lugusi fields, his mind soared beyond the horizon, ever restless, ever seeking.
His academic journey began at Lugusi Primary School, where he quickly outpaced his contemporaries, his mind a sharpened blade cutting through the dense undergrowth of ignorance. By 1981, he had conquered the Certificate of Primary Education, setting foot on a path few dared to tread. St. Ignatius Mukumu Boys was his next proving ground, followed by St. Peter’s Boys in Mumias, where he fortified his intellectual arsenal before stepping into the hallowed halls of Egerton University.
But Malulu was never one to hoard knowledge as a selfish treasure. He understood that wisdom is a communal asset, to be shared, to be dispersed like the seeds of a great tree carried far and wide by the winds of time. With degrees in Economics and Sociology, culminating in a Master of Arts from the University of Nairobi, he took up the noble task of teaching. At the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, he was more than a lecturer. He was a mentor, a sculptor of minds, chiseling away ignorance and apathy, revealing in his students the gleaming brilliance of intellectual curiosity.
Yet Malulu knew that knowledge, if it does not translate into action, remains but an unfinished story. The corridors of academia could not contain his restless spirit. He had seen firsthand the struggles of the children of Malava, bright minds dimmed by poverty, dreams stifled by lack of opportunity. He knew that policies drafted in distant chambers had tangible consequences in the dusty homesteads of his people. And so, he answered the call to leadership, stepping into the turbulent arena of politics.
In 2013, when the political winds favored grand coalitions, Malulu, a man of principle, chose instead the path of conviction. Contesting under the Maendeleo Democratic Party, he defied the odds and emerged victorious. He was not merely elected. He was entrusted with a sacred duty. His people did not see a politician in him. They saw a leader, one whose loyalty was not to fleeting alliances but to the cause of progress.
His re-election in 2017, against formidable opposition, was a testament to the faith his people had in him. And again, in 2022, when he carried the banner of the Amani National Congress (ANC), the doubters were many. But Malulu did not waver. The people of Malava knew their son. And once again, they stood by him.
And what a servant he was. To Malulu, leadership was not a perch from which to issue decrees. It was a burden to be carried, a duty to be fulfilled. He built schools where none existed. He secured bursaries for children who would otherwise have been consigned to the margins of history. Each classroom erected under his leadership was a fortress against ignorance. Each scholarship awarded was a torch against the encroaching darkness of despair.
But the call of the ancestors is one that even the mightiest of men cannot ignore. In 2025, the towering baobab yielded to the inevitable. Malulu Omwana We Injendi has gone to sit among the elders, to whisper in the wind that rustles through the fields of Lugusi, to watch over his people from the unseen realm.
Yet, let it not be said that he is gone. No, men like Malulu do not vanish. They transcend. As Maya Angelou so wisely reminded us,
“A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.”
Malulu’s spirit lingers in the classrooms he built, in the minds he shaped, in the lives he uplifted. His presence echoes in the laughter of children whose dreams he safeguarded, in the aspirations of young men and women who walk the paths he paved.
So, as we gather today to bid him farewell, let our sorrow be tempered with gratitude. Let our mourning be softened by the knowledge that he lived not just for himself but for us all. And let our resolve be strengthened, for the baobab may have fallen but its seeds have already taken root.
Go well, Malulu Omwana We Injendi. The village remembers. The nation salutes. The ancestors welcome you home.
You can follow and like us on Facebook: education hotspot news updates. WhatsApp channel: education hotspot news updates. For hilarious stories
Angatia Leonard
Facebook Comments