W.W.W. Awori

Wycliffe Wasya Work Awori (August 2, 1925 – May 5, 1978) was a pioneer Kenyan journalist, trade unionist, legislator, and freedom fighter. Popularly known as W.W.W. Awori, he was an eminent agitator for Kenya’s independence movement from the end of World War II and during the Kenya Emergency, which lasted from 1952 to 1959.

W.W.W. Awori was among the early members of the Kenya African Union (KAU) and served as Acting Secretary General, Treasurer, Acting Vice President, and Acting President at various periods before the organization was banned in June 1953. In 1946, at the age of 20, he represented the organization’s executive committee on a mission to the United Kingdom to persuade Jomo Kenyatta to return from England to lead the KAU and Kenya’s fight for Independence. In 1952, following the detention of the Kapenguria Six, W.W.W. Awori joined forces with other prominent politicians to secure a strong legal team, which included Denis Pritt, among other Kenyan and international lawyers.

He was one of the first African representatives nominated to the Legislative Council of Kenya (Legco), representing North Nyanza from 1952 to 1956. Prior to this appointment, he was a prolific editor and journalist involved in pre-Independence publications supporting Kenya’s trade union movement and fight for liberation. A proponent of the Pan-African movement, he drew inspiration from the struggle of other occupied countries in Africa and the Caribbean. Towards the end of his career, which spanned nearly 35 years, W.W.W. Awori served as the editor of the Kenya Hansard.