Over three decades since President Uhuru Kenyatta graduated from the prestigious Amherst College in Boston, Massachusetts with a degree in political science and economics, a rare glimpse into his character while at school has been offered by some of his former classmates and lecturers.
Uhuru was at the premium institution, which attracts the sons and daughters of who-is-who across the world, from 1981 to 1985 – a time when racism was really high in America.
According to his former classmates and lecturers, who spoke to the Sunday Nation, he was a quiet, reserved but attentive student.
Author Donald Loring Brown, 79, who studied at Amherst and met Kenya’s future president in 1984 described Uhuru as follows:
“He was kind of shy, but very kind. He was a good student. I cannot say he was popular but the people who knew him liked him. Black students weren’t favoured. They banded together, ate together. I ate meals with them four or five times a week. I first met him in a dining hall with other students.”
Mr Loring disclosed that he and Mr Kenyatta briefly worked at an art museum in college to earn extra pocket money, adding “It was then that we talked about his family and that is when I realised he was the son of a former president.”
Fredrick Shepherd, a classmate of Mr Kenyatta’s, said: “I didn’t know that his father was a president until much later. He was quite unassuming and never played up those connections. But that was Amherst: the person who sat next to you was related to world events in ways you did not even imagine.”
“He was friendly but a little bit aloof,” Shepherd added.
Steve Mead, who was in the same politics class as Mr Kenyatta, described his relationship with Uhuru as: “We just said hello to each in passing. At one point, he was my neighbour in campus when I was looking for a place to stay. The only thing I remember about him is that he was very quiet, but a nice guy. He had his own company.”
Most of the former Amherst students who met Uhuru could, however, not remember much about him considering the long period that has passed since they left college.
George Kateb, Uhuru’s lecturer of history, said: “I have faint recollections of him – it’s been a long time ago. But I recall a reserved and attentive student in a large class.”
A previous article published on Kenyans.co.ke revealed that after Uhuru graduated from Amherst, he returned to the country and started working as a cashier at the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Kipande branch.
He later quit and started his own company Wilham Kenya Limited, through which he sourced and exported agricultural produce.
Uhuru would later be appointed to Parliament in 2001, marking the beginning of his interesting political life.
