Staff Profiles

Prof. Pontian Godfrey Okoth

godfreyContact Details:

Department of Peace and Conflict Studies

School of Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance

P.O. Box 190, 50100

Kakamega, KENYA

Kakamega-Webuye Road

email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Google Scholar: hen&user=tm2N0SoAAAAJ

Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8369-9029

Google Scholar: htm2N0SoAAAAJ&hl=en

Prof. Pontian Godfrey Okoth.

Prof.  Pontian Godfrey Okoth is Professor of History and International Relations in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega, Kenya.  He was born in Tororo, Uganda on December 2nd 1951. He received the B. A (Hons.) degree in History and the Concurrent Diploma in Education from Makerere University in 1978,  the MA in History from the University of Waterloo,  Ontario,  Canada  in 1980 and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Diplomatic History from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1987.

Prof. Okoth has held teaching positions at Makerere University, where he rose to become Associate Professor of History in 1991. In 1996, Prof. Okoth was promoted to the rank of Professor of History at Maseno University, Maseno, Kenya, where, in 2003, he delivered his inaugural lecture entitled, “The Dishonest Broker in Africa: A Diplomatic Historian’s Tour of US-African Relations Since 1945.” It was the first inaugural lecture at Maseno University delivered on Wednesday, September 17, 2003. In 2006, Professor Okoth relocated to what later became Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega where he was appointed Professor of History and International Relations at the University’s then Centre for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. Prof. Okoth was later to join Uganda Martyrs University, East African School of Diplomacy, Governance and International Studies as Professor of History and International Relations. In February 2012, Professor Okoth rejoined Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology as Professor of History and International Relations, Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Centre for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. Prof. Okoth is also Part-Time Professor of History in the Department of Social Science Education, History Section, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

Prof. Okoth has also held administrative positions in various Universities. He has been Vice Chancellor, Lugazi University, Kampala, Uganda; Director of the Directorate of Quality Assurance, Uganda Martyrs University; and Head of Department of Diplomacy and International Studies in the East African School of Diplomacy, Governance and International Studies, Uganda Martyrs University. Prof. Okoth has also been Head of Department of History, Makerere University from 1988 to 1994. At Maseno University, Prof. Okoth was the Director, Centre for the Study of Lake Victoria and its Environs, having previously been acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Makerere University on numerous occasions. Prof. Okoth was also the Head of Department of Disaster, Intervention and Humanitarian Assistance – Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

In addition to authoring and editing numerous internationally reputed books such as US Foreign Policy towards Kenya (Nairobi: Gideon S. Were Press 1992); Africa at the Beginning of the 21st Century (Nairobi: University of Nairobi Press, 2000); Conflict in Contemporary Africa (Nairobi: Jomo Kenyatta Foundation); The  Americas Before and After Columbus (Kampala: USIS, 1992); USA, India,  Africa During and After the Cold War (Nairobi: University of Nairobi Press 2010); Kenya and the Contemporary World Order (Kakamega: MMUST Press, 2010). In all, Prof. Okoth has published over 180 publications, including books, book chapters, and journal articles. Prof. Okoth has over the years presented over one hundred and fifty conference and seminar papers to scholarly forums in various African countries, Europe, Asia and North America. Prof. Okoth has also been editor of several learned journals, including the Internationally Acclaimed Ufahamu, the Trans-African Journal of History and the Journal of Science, Technological, Education and Management, among others. Prof. Okoth is also a member of many learned associations, including the Historical Association of Kenya (where he is a life member), Kenya-American Studies Association, the Association of African Historians (where he is a member of the Executive Committee representing universities of Eastern African Region) and the Association of African International Relations, among others.

Over the years, Prof. Okoth has also been a visiting scholar at institutions of academic excellence such as Nuffield College, University of Oxford; the Brookings Institution in Washington D. C; the American Studies Centre – Hyderabad, India; the American Studies Centre – Salzburg, Austria; the University of Sofia – Bulgaria; University of Hafia – Israel, among others. Prof. Okoth has also received such prestigious awards as the Fulbright Scholarship, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations award and the Carnegie Corporation of New York Research Award, among others.

In 2019, Prof. Okoth was honoured by his global peers in a book entitled, CONTEMPORARY AFRICA AND THE FORESEEABLE WORLD ORDER, London and New York: Lexington Books whose preface was “Accolade to Professor P.G. Okoth: An Icon of International Relations and Diplomatic History”, pg. xiii-xx. Prof. Okoth’s research interests and teaching include Diplomatic History, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, International Conflict Management, Peace and Conflict Studies.

Prof. Okoth is married with four children and has been external examiner in numerous African universities, including University of Dares Salaam, University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, Moi University, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science & Technology, Rhodes University in South Africa, Maseno University, among others.  Prof. Okoth has also supervised, to completion, eighty (80) graduate candidates at the Masters and PhD levels. Prof. Okoth is one of the two East African diplomatic historians who pioneered by specializing in the diplomatic history pertaining to US-African relations. In 2018, Prof. Okoth together with Prof. F. K. Matanga and Prof. K. Onkware edited a book entitled, PEACE, SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT IN 21ST CENTURY AFRICA: THEORY AND PRACTICE that was published by Finesse Publishing Limited in Nairobi, that is currently and widely used by university students all over Africa, especially those in graduate studies. Prof. Okoth is currently editing what will be a University-level textbook on “Research Methodology in History: Discourse on Historical Knowledge Industry.”

                                                 Some of his Major publications

  1. Graham Oluteyo Amakanji, Pontian Godfrey Okoth, and Edmond Were Maloba. The Cursed Promised Land? Demographic Risk Factors for Homegrown Extremism in the Squatter Enclaves of Mount Elgon Region of Western Kenya.Published on September 19th 2023 in Journal of Asian and African Studies. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/002190962311977

  2. Josephat Nairutia Kemei, Kizito Muchanga Lusambili & Pontian Godfrey Okoth. History of Community and Indigenous Language Mass Media Evolution in Turkana County. Published 9th June 2023 on in Athens Journal of History. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30958/ajhis.X-Y-Z

  3. Okoth, P.G. (2022). ‘Security vis-à-vis Regional Integration within the East African Community: Conceptual and Historiographical Enterprise.” International Journal of Research in Education and Social Sciences (IJRESS), Vol. 5, No. 1, January, 2022, pp. 27-44. A Refereed International Journal Index Copernicus Value 2018:63.87, ISSN 2617-4804 www.oircjournals.org.

  4. Okoth, Sanmac David Owuor, Okoth, P.G. and Onyango, E.S.O. (2021). “Effectiveness of Multilateral diplomacy Actors in Critical Assessment of Kenya’s Presidential Election Outcomes, 2007-2017.” Journal of Political Science and International Relations, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 83-95, Doi:1011648/jpsir 20210403.13. ISSN 2640-2769 (Print); ISSN:2640-2785 (Online). DOI: https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20210403.13.
  5. Chitembwe, S.J., Okoth, P.G., and Matanga, F.K. (2021). “Challenges and Opportunities of the Criminal Justice System in Addressing Youth Radicalization in Mombasa and Kwale Counties, Kenya”. Journal of Global Peace and Conflict, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-12. ISSN: 2333-58 4X (Print), 2333-5858 (Online).DOI: https://doi.org/10.15640/igpc.v9n/a/.
  6. Okoth, P.G. (2021), “Tracks of Diplomacy and their Application to Conflict Management in Africa.” Journal of African Inter-Disciplinary Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, March 2021, ISSN: 2523-6725 (Online), pp. 134-155.
  7. Imbiakha, C.O., Okoth, P.G., and Were, E.M. (2021). “Evaluating the Challenges and Opportunities of the Use of Military Diplomacy in Intra-State Conflict Management in the Horn of Africa.” International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, Vol. 9, No. 3, ISSN: 2321-3418 (Online), pp. 606-625.DOI: https://doi.org/10.18535/ijsrm/v9i3.sh04
  8. Wakhungu, J.P., Okoth, P.G., and Odhiambo, E.O.S. (2021). “Challenges and Opportunities Constraining and Enhancing Kenya’s and Tanzania’s Participation in the East Africa Community Econo-Political Integration Process.” Open Journal of Political Science, 11. ISSN 2164-0505 (Print), pp. 134-154.DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/ojps.2021.111009. 
  9. Kedode, L.I. and Okoth, P.G. (2020). “Challenges Facing Multinational Corporations towards Improving the Socio-Economic Development of the Residents of Nandi County, Kenya.” International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Sciences, IV, No. IV, April 2020, ISSN: 2454-6186, pp. 126-132.
  10. Okoth, P.G. (2020). “The Locus of the East African Community Citizens’ Sovereignty and Popular Participation in the Integration Project.” In K.G. Adar, K.P. Apuuli, A.L. Lando, P.L.O. Lumumba, and J. Masabo, eds., Popular Participation in the Integration of the East African Community: East Africanness and East Africanization. London: Lexington Books, 2020, ISBN:978-1-7936-0549-8, Chapter 1, pp. 21-35.
  11. Ochieng’, M.O. and Okoth, P.G. (2019). “Epistemological Challenges of Security-Driven Diplomacy in Executing Counter-Intelligence Operations along the Nadal Belt, Kenya – South Sudan Border. “International Journal of Research and Innovation in the Social Sciences, III, No. V, May, 2019, ISSN: 2454-6186 (Online), pp. 225-234.
  12. Ungaya, G.C., Okoth, P.G., and Were, E.M. (2019). “Importance of Supranational Structures towards Trans-Boundary Eco-Tourism Development: Case of Serengeti – Mara.” International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Vol. 9, No. 5, ISSN: 2250-3450 (Print), pp. 622-629. http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-0519/ijsrp-p8977.pdf.
  13. 11. Ayeta, A.M., Okoth, P.G., and Were, E.M. (2019). “Analysis of Political Parties Representation in Parliament and Public Policy Formulization in Uganda’s Nascent Hydrocarbon Industry.” International Journal of Political Science, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Print), ISSN 2454-9452. http://41.89.196.16:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/893.
  14. Okoth, P.G. (2018). “Looking East: Uganda’s Emerging Economic Diplomacy with the Asia-Pacific Region.” Asian Journal of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Vol. 6, No. 1, ISSN: 231-3782 (Print), pp. 45-55.https://rb.gy/oun4p6.
  15. Okoth, P.G. (2018). “Peace, Conflict and Security Challenges in Contemporary Africa.” In M.N. Amutabi, ed., Political Economy of Development in Africa, Nairobi: Centre for Democracy, Research and Development. ISBN: 978-9966-116-80-2, Chapter One, pp. 5-15.
  16. Okoth, P.G. (2018). “Diplomatic Service Best Practice and the United States of America –Uganda Relations in a Networked Digital Age.” In P.G. Okoth, F.K. Matanga, and K. Onkware, eds., Peace, Security and Development in 21st Century Africa: Theory and Practice – Nairobi: Finesse Publishing Ltd. Chapter 21, ISBN 9789966715920, pp. 455-486.
  17. Okoth, P.G. (2018). “Multilateral Diplomacy and Transnational Insurgency Management: Concept, Theory, Historiography.” In P.G. Okoth, F.K. Matanga, and K. Onkware, eds., Peace, Security and Development in 21st Century Africa: Theory and Practice – Nairobi: Finesse Publishing Ltd. Chapter 21, ISBN 9789966715920, pp.45-72.

View full CV here:

Live Search

Search