On 8th May 2026, medics took a day off to interact with history. The faculty of history & archeology at the University of Nairobi teemed with medical practitioners, pharmacists & dentists from across this our land and nation. A rare lifetime experience. Way back in 1905 in his essay ‘Life of Reason’, George Santayana pitched for retentiveness: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” the poet wrote. He also observed “those who speak most about development measure it by quantity not quality.” Sounds familiar?
In Kenya’s history, worker solidarity has shaped the struggles for decent working conditions, political participation & nationalist mobilization, reads a brief shared by the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists & Dental Union (KMPDU). At the University of Nairobi towers, medics “remembered to remember” Makhan Singh, Fred Kubai, Clement Lubembe, Dennis Akumu & Tom Mboya – “the man Kenya wanted to forget,” (Goldsworthy). Selective amnesia explains why those in power indignify health workers, mama mboga na jamaa wa boda boda. In Life of Reason, George Santayana tells us, “a country without memory is a country of madmen.” What was insolent interior cabinet secretary saying yesterday? We digress…
On 8th May 2026, medics populated the Nairobi University towers to shower in history. The faculty leads did not stray. “It is a moral duty to study history. We must ask difficult questions: activism without reflection is hollow,” pitched Dr Kenneth Ombongi. “We must forge new paths, re-imagine solidarity in contemporary times,” Prof. George Gona added. Mwalimu Michael Chege was spot on: the non-reading leaders (the ones that do not learn from history) “have abandoned Vision 2030, are now hawking Singapore” – vomiting on our shoes. George Santayana tells us in The Sense of Beauty, “History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be re-written.” Over to you valiant KMPDU:-
Dr. Mercy Nabwire
National Treasurer
