University fraternity in Kenya pays tribute to celebrated scholar Prof. Micere Mugo

In a memorial service organized in her honor by the University of Nairobi, speakers eulogised the fallen scholar and author as a trailblazer who dared speak out against oppressive political regimes and human rights abuses. 

Prof Micere Mugo died on Friday, June 30, at the age of 80 after years of battling cancer.

The late Professor Micere Mugo was a woman of many firsts. She rose through the ranks to become the first woman in the country to become dean in the faculty of Arts at the University of Nairobi. Her fierce criticism of the government resulted in her leaving her post and going into exile in 1982. 

Nevertheless, an educationist at heart, she set up a fund to pay school fees for needy but bright students, in line with her philosophy of Ubuntu.

Following the demise of her daughter, the family of Micere Mugo established a fund that seeks to support Kenyans from disadvantaged backgrounds to access university and even basic education.

A lover of Arts, the late professor was also an accomplished writer, poet and playwright and in her memorial service, her peers waxed lyrical and used poetry to honor her.

Her family remembers her as a gentle and kind human being, who never met a stranger she couldn't befriend.

The late Professor Micere Githae Mugo was a professor of literature at Syracuse University and was known for her fierceness as a human rights defender, a distinguished scholar and a revered author.

She died on Friday, June 30, at the age of 80 after years of battling with cancer.