PS Stephen Isaboke visited Maseno School for its 120th anniversary celebrations.
As the presidential motorcade moved through the historic grounds of Maseno School on Saturday, crowds gathered with excitement. For Stephen Isaboke, Principal Secretary in the State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunications, the visit was deeply personala return to where his dreams began.
Standing near William Ruto during the school’s anniversary, the Principal Secretary appeared visibly moved as his eyes repeatedly looked toward Maseno’s most sacred landmark: the towering Oseno (Hickory) tree.
More than 120 years old, the legendary tree is not merely part of the school grounds; it is the very heartbeat of the institution, the symbol from which Maseno draws its name and identity.
To visitors, it is a magnificent natural wonder. To generations of Old Boys, it is a silent guardian of memory, wisdom, discipline, and tradition.
“This tree is our compass,” Isaboke reflected quietly. “It tells us that while times change, values endure.”
For a moment, the government official overseeing Kenya’s broadcasting and telecommunications was no longer a senior state officer. He was simply another Maseno boy standing under the same branches that once sheltered his youthful ambitions.
Long before he was shaping national conversations and steering the country’s digital future, Isaboke sat beneath the Oseno tree as a student, listening to stories, debates, and lessons passed down orally from one generation to another.
Those shaded gatherings, where ideas flowed freely among students and teachers, now seem almost prophetic for a man whose career revolves around communication and the movement of information.
The symbolism was impossible to miss. In an age dominated by fiber optics, satellites, and rapid broadcasting cycles, Isaboke had returned to the place where his earliest lessons in communication began not through technology, but through storytelling beneath an ancient tree.
The PS joins a distinguished fraternity of Maseno alumni whose journeys began in the school’s “hickory-scented” corridors before ascending to the highest levels of national leadership.
The school’s culture of discipline and intellectual rigor, nurtured for decades under the watch of the Oseno tree, has long shaped some of Kenya’s most influential figures.
For the current students packed around the celebration grounds, Isaboke’s presence carried a powerful message of possibility. He embodied the resilience and quiet strength associated with the Hickory tree itselfsturdy, enduring, and deeply rooted.
As nostalgia lingered in the air, the occasion quickly shifted toward an ambitious vision for the future when President Ruto rose to address the gathering.
Acknowledging that the institution had outgrown much of its colonial-era infrastructure, the President unveiled an expansive modernization plan aimed at transforming Maseno into a world-class academic hub.
“There is no reason why we cannot admit 5,000 students to this school to benefit from the culture of this great institution,” President Ruto declared to loud applause.
The Head of State pledged the immediate construction of 40 modern classrooms, with the first 20 expected to be completed before the end of the year.
He also directed the Ministry of Lands and Housing to construct dormitories capable of accommodating 2,000 students and tasked the Ministry of Education with building a state-of-the-art multipurpose hall.
In one of the day’s most memorable declarations, the President said he envisioned a future where “Maseno School will be the next Singapore” of educational excellence.
The ambitious redevelopment vision was strongly echoed by Anyang’ Nyong’o, who described Maseno as a historic cradle of leadership and intellectual transformation.
Governor Nyong’o linked the school’s proud legacy stretching from Jaramogi Oginga Odinga to contemporary innovators and national leaders to the newly launched Ksh 2 billion redevelopment masterplan spearheaded by the Old Boys and Friends of Maseno School Foundation.
“Maseno has always been a cradle for those who shape the nation,” Nyong’o remarked, emphasizing that modernizing such a historic citadel of knowledge was vital not only for Kisumu County but for Kenya’s broader social and intellectual transformation.
For Isaboke, the moment represented a rare and emotional convergence of past and future. Standing shoulder to shoulder with national leaders including Opiyo Wandayi and Migos Ogamba, he found himself reconnecting with the very foundations that shaped his journey.
Even as speeches continued and dignitaries addressed the gathering, Isaboke’s attention often wandered back to the vast canopy overheadthe same canopy that has witnessed Maseno’s transformation from a colonial missionary outpost into one of Kenya’s most celebrated educational institutions.
“It has seen students come and go, and it continues to remind us of where we began,” Teacher Obiero observed.
As the celebrations drew to a close and the presidential convoy eventually departed the school grounds, the Oseno tree remained standing in dignified silence, its sprawling branches reaching skyward as they have for more than a century.
For Isaboke, the visit was more than a ceremonial appearance. It was a pause amid the pressures of national service to reconnect with memory, identity, and heritage.
And perhaps that is why the ancient Hickory tree still matters so profoundly. In a fast-moving world driven by technology and fleeting headlines, the Oseno tree remains Maseno’s timeless “server” of historyoffline, unshaken, and deeply rooted in the soil of tradition.
Beneath its shade today walk another generation of young boys, their dreams stretching upward just like its branches, following footsteps once taken by Isaboke himself.