Paul Otula

Paul Agali Otula is a Kenyan educationist, basketball coach, school and sports administrator. He has served as the head teacher at several elite schools in Kenya in a career spanning over three decades. Since 2008, he has served as the Chairman and President of the Kenya Basketball Federation and currently sits on the Executive Board of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya.
==Early life==
Paul Otula was born on 3rd January 1964 in the then Rachuonyo District of the current Homa Bay County.
==Career==
===Mang'u High School===
Otula served as a classroom teacher and basketball coach at Mang'u before rising to become a Deputy Principal and, later, the Principal.
His refusal to admit the child of a powerful member of Kenya's then KANU government led by former President Daniel arap Moi led to his unceremonial ouster from the school's leadership, being transferred to Jamhuri High School in Nairobi county before a decision was made to send him to Maseno School as the Principal. His transfer led to protests by students over several days.
===Maseno School===
Otula succeeded long-serving principal Walter Okumu Amadi at Maseno School in late 2001.
His tour of duty at the school was marked by successes in multiple disciplines in and out of class. The school's rugby 7s team represented Kenya in the secondary schools category at the Dubai 7s while he led the school's basketball team, which he coached, into victory at the Engen Africa Youth Basketball championships in Durban, South Africa, in 2003.
He is credited with introducing Aviation Technology as a teachable and examinable subject at Maseno School.
His highest point in academics at the school was in 2016 when the school was the ranked as the best public school in the previous year's national examinations and the second-best school in Kenya in those examinations overall. A year later, in 2017, he would be interdicted following alleged cases of sodomy at the school. The move led to student-led protests at the school and the resignation of the board of management.
===Sunshine Secondary School===
Otula joined Sunshine Secondary School in Nairobi County as the principal in 2018, serving until 2021 when he quit in anticipation of his run for the Karachuonyo parliamentary seat in his native Nyanza region in the 2022 General Elections.
===Basketball===
Otula contested and won the chairmanship of the Kenya Basketball Federation in 2008, beginning a long stint at the helm of the country's basketball governing body. He won his fourth term (the second term under the new Kenya Basketball Federation constitution) at the national basketball body in 2021. He is set to retire at the end of the term in 2024.
In 2017, Otula was elected to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya to represent basketball interests. He was re-elected in 2021 and joined the Committee's Executive Board.
==Awards and honours==
In December 2005, Otula was awarded a Head of State Commendation (HSC) by former President Mwai Kibaki. Kibaki's successor, former President Uhuru Kenyatta, awarded Otula the Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya, 10 years later.
In 2008, at the annual Kenya Secondary School Heads Association gathering in the coastal city of Mombasa, Otula was voted by fellow teachers as the Principal of the Year.
==Publications==
Otula has written a book, 'Mastery of Modern School Administration'.
Category:Kenyan educators
Category:Basketball coaches
Category:1964 births