KENYA: Maathai rejected lucrative memoir offers

16 October 2011

The late Professor Wangari Maathai's deep love for and attachment to Kenya made her resist several bids from top foreign universities for her memoirs, write Walter Menya and Daniel Wesangula for The Daily Nation.

Instead of giving in to lucrative advances, the Nobel laureate committed to have her memoirs kept safely at the University of Nairobi where she started her career as a lecturer. An interview with Professor Agnes Mwang'ombe, the principal of the University of Nairobi's College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences in Kabete, where Maathai was head of department from 1976, revealed just how strong the Nobel Laureate's will was to keep the fruits of her work in the country that she called home.

"After her crowning as the winner of the Nobel peace prize, there were many universities from South Africa, the US and even Australia who approached her with offers to keep her memoirs," said Mwang'ombe. Among the universities were the Ivy League universities of Yale and Princeton. But the laureate would not budge. "She looked at the offers and politely said 'no'," Mwang'ombe said.
Full report on the Daily Nation site

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