NJORO, KENYA | 6 October 2026
By Kurian Musa
More than six decades after studying at Egerton, Mr. Perminder Singh Tamana, popularly known as Pindi, returned to his former college, this time finding a fully-fledged university vastly different from the institution he knew in 1962.
Tamana, Class of 1962, and Mr. Kenneth Ayuo, Class of 1979, both members of the Egerton University Alumni Association, were welcomed by Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Research and Extension, Prof. Bernard Aduda.
The meeting quickly became a walk down memory lane.
Tamana recalled an Egerton Agricultural College that was then an all-male institution. He said the college had historically been predominantly white, with the first black students joining in 1962.
“This was a premier agricultural college of instruction in Africa,” Tamana said, recalling students coming from Ethiopia, The Gambia, South Africa, Namibia, India, Italy and other countries to pursue agricultural diploma courses.
Prof. Aduda took the alumni through Egerton’s transformation over the decades. Today, the University offers diploma, bachelor’s, master’s and Doctor of Philosophy programmes and has experienced tremendous growth in student numbers, academic programmes and infrastructure.
With that growth, he noted, have also come changing institutional needs and greater demands for prudent utilisation of resources.
Prof. Aduda thanked Ayuo for maintaining links with Egerton’s older generation of alumni and bringing them back to reconnect with their alma mater.
“The other year you came with Mr. Kapila, and now Mr. Tamana. We are grateful,” he said before presenting the visitors with soapstone rhino carvings as memorabilia.
Tamana’s life after Egerton reflects decades of public and community service in Kenya and the United Kingdom. He is a Life Governor of the Agricultural Society of Kenya and received the Kenya President’s Award for 50 years of service to the Society.
He chaired the Mombasa International Show from 1976 to 1978 and the Coast Hockey Association from 1974 to 1982, and served as President of Kenya Jaycees in 1981.
His community service continued in the United Kingdom, where he received the London Borough of Richmond Community Award in 2013 and its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023.
The alumni later toured the University, sharing memories and helping piece together aspects of Egerton’s early history.
At the Senior Common room, the guests were treated to a luncheon and met faculty members who are also alumni: Peter Mecha 2009- 2014 ,Prof Nkurumwa 1987-1990, Dr Eliud Okuku - Lecturer Sociology Department - 1996-2001, Mary Mutiga 2005-2009 Lecturer Applied Community Development studies, Kenneth Ayuo 1975- 1978 - Diploma Farm Management and Dennis Odero 2019- 2023.
Their recollections could now provide valuable first-hand material for a future revised edition of the Egerton University history book.
