Bethwell Allan Ogot

He was the Chancellor of Moi University up to early 2013.

From the University of Nairobi, Ogot was appointed by President Jomo Kenyatta to serve as member of the East African Community (EAC) Legislative Assembly, between 1975 and 1977. He was President of the PanAfrican Archaeological Association from 1977 to 1983. Between 1978 and 1980 Ogot served at the International Louis Leakey Memorial Institute for African Pre-History (TILLMIAP), which was an integral part of the National Museums of Kenya (NMK), as its first director. He served Kenyatta University as Professor, and the Kenya Post and Telecommunications as chairman. He was the Chancellor of Moi University, Eldoret, up to 2013. He remains Professor Emeritus of Maseno University, where prior to being Chancellor of Moi University he had been the Director of Post-Graduate Studies.

He was educated at Ambira, Maseno School, Makerere University College, and the University of St Andrews and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. While studying in London, he served as a leader of the Kenya Students Association, where he assisted the Kenya nationalists, notably the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga during the 1960 negotiations at the Lancaster negotiations for Kenya's independence.

Ogot, a Kenyan Luo, was born in Gem Location of Siaya County of Kenya. In 1959 he married Grace Emily Akinyi, a politician, writer and health specialist. She eventually served the government of Kenya as an Assistant Minister for Culture and Social Services.

Bethwell Allan Ogot (born 1929) is a historian from Kenya. He specialises in African history, research methods and theory. One of his works starts by saying that "to tell the story of a past so as to portray an inevitable destiny is, for humankind, a need as universal as tool-making. To that extent, we may say that a human being is, by nature, historicus.