My Opus Dei Lifestyle

In 1992, Dr George Njenga quit his job as a senior auditor at Ernst & Young. He joined Strathmore University as a director of the School of Accountancy before founding the Business School 10 years later on a piece of land that was a swamp. His vision for it is the ‘Harvard of Africa’ that offers a “Mercedes-like product” of education. Apart from being the dean of Strathmore Business School, he’s also a senior lecturer in Ethics and Leadership. He has a PhD in political philosophy, a Master’s in governance and culture and another in business administration. As a member of the Opus Dei, at his core is service to mankind.

For this interview with JACKSON BIKO, they carried two chairs up to the rooftop balcony of his office block, where he lit a cigarette and went to the deep place that he is most comfortable in; God, service and leadership.

Decant the philosophy of your life.

It’s a very simple philosophy; I work for God and for the service of the common good. I’ve since convinced myself that I shouldn’t be bothering too much about money.

Before I reached 22, I loved money. I wanted to become a businessman because my dad was one— he ran a butchery. I wasn’t a good student in school, I was riotous and I didn’t have too much value for study.

Even as an auditor, I still felt a desire to serve God but I didn’t know what service to others meant. Was it public office? (Pause) My mom was a teacher, my dad still runs a school of street boys, about 120 of them. I’m also really an educationist who tries to transform leaders into people who will improve Africa.

Looking back at your life, what are you least proud of?

I don’t lament the past but I went through a very difficult late childhood... financial problems.

(Pause) As an ordinary man, the only pain I have is to see myself going without any child of my own blood. I wish I had a wife and many children but I made up my mind to serve God and others. When you choose something, then you have to be committed to it.

What about Opus Dei appealed and spoke to you to make you join it?

I looked at the idea; a man transforming the society in a Christian way and most of all, reaching out to the less fortunate. And doing it without financial rewards. If I was to make money, I would have been a very wealthy man, but in Opus Dei we work only for our upkeep. I give all my salary.

Everything?

Everything. My work here is all given to the service of the church. We take priests to Rome. We have retreat houses, we have centres where we train young people, we have just started a technical school. We have opened a centre in Uganda and Tanzania. It’s service not money.

What I ask from my salary is for upkeep; rent and for my golf. (Laughs) I play golf because most of my students play golf, I need to be where they are.

When do you live for yourself?

I don’t. If I had a wife and children I’d live for myself. But I don’t and money isn’t key for me. I’m one of the founding directors of Pacis Insurance, but I took no shilling from the company and we agreed we’re dedicating it to the bishops because they are the ones who wanted to start it. I also started the Association of African Business Schools and now we have over 30 schools in Africa. This is how I live.

Do you find that when people learn you’re Opus Dei, they sort of treat you with more caution?

Yeah, when you are a single person who is celibate for all intents and purposes, and therefore you are not where the dances are, you’re not with the chicks, you know what I mean, eh? They treat you with some importance and reverence.

So you have gone some 30 years without a woman, no sex... complete celibacy?

Yes, but before I became celibate I had two girlfriends (Laughs) who were very beautiful. But my soul-searching somehow just didn’t lead me to have a wife and children, something of course that is natural and desirable, which I somehow feel I’m missing. Because you know in Africa, it is based on that.

Where do you get affection from? Don’t we all need intimacy?

No! You don’t need it. I came to learn that sex is a need for the species but not for the individual. How do people fighting in wars and in the battlefields get affection? Affection equals to love, love equals to sacrifice for others. I love the people I work for, I dedicate my life to my students, my society.

I don’t lack physical affection.

What teaching in the Bible do you struggle with?

Why God created us for this world that is so difficult. Why did God allow evil into the world?

This is hypothetical, if you’re handed a little window of extravagance, how would you use it?

The first thing I would do is to build at least a 100 technical schools to ensure many people develop skills that will transfer them from poverty to reasonable wealth. And I am not saying that because I want to say something that will sound good, I mean it.

How does one get to this point of deep awareness of your purpose?

Gratitude to what you have received. Love for God, for people, for your country. The more you practice your virtuous life, the more you practice your Christian faith, the closer you come to probably what you may call being another Christ. But I’m a sinner like everybody else. I get angry, I make mistakes out of judgment, I have impure thoughts, okay? I’m an ordinary man in every way. But I overcome. I don’t give in to those thoughts and to those not so honourable desires. I risk my freedom to obey and serve. But because I don’t have a wife and children I just can’t go ‘hanging’ in clubs like a bachelor. No. I have to account for every minute of my life.

Doc, nobody says “hanging” anymore….

(Laughs) Oh, what do they say?

I’m not sure, but it’s not hanging. How do you fight temptations, how do you walk away?

If you want to find gold, you go where the gold is. I don’t have free time to allow temptations in, my timetable and schedule for my activities is packed. Even having a beer with my friends, I drink two bottles maximum, or three glasses of wine. Beyond that it’s dangerous. (Laughs) You only get tempted if you expose yourself to it. But if it finds me, I run away.

In a thumbnail, define happiness.

Happiness is an effect. The effect of the things you do, of the goals you achieve. When you do well for others, you feel happy.

What’s your weakness?

Good question! I love lying on the bed and reading a book or listening to music. (Chuckles) Because I never have time to do it. And I love golf, very much.

How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Four, one of them my golf shoes. So, three.

What do you fear the most?

Oh my God! That’s a very difficult question. (Pause) My mum and her friends used to say the only thing you need to fear is to lie, to steal, and to sin. I fear offending God. The rest I don’t fear.