Wallah bin Wallah: Ex-fish, Peanuts Vendor Who Became Top Swahili Author in Kenya

Wallah bin Wallah is arguably one of the best Swahili authors in the Kenyan education publishing sector.

He is widely known for authoring Kiswahili Mufti textbooks that were used across primary schools. 

Having dominated the Kenyan publishing industry, most people believe that Wallah is a Kenyan from the Coastal region, but that is not true as he was born and raised in Tanzania.

In this article, we outline Wallah's Journey focusing on his early life, teaching career, and being an author.

Wallah bin Wallah's Early Life and Education

He was born in a village in Mwanza, Tanzania in 1956. He attended both primary and secondary school in Tanzania. However, his secondary education was not seamless due to a lack of school fees.

He was sponsored by missionaries for one and a half years, but dropped out midway after he decided to join Islam, which he felt would advance his love for Swahili language.

Speaking during a past interview, Wallah noted that he had to sell fish for three years before he received a sponsorship from the Muslim Youth League which saw him move to Ravals Secondary School in Nairobi.

While Studying at Ravals, he had a side hustle of selling peanuts and vegetables to sustain himself in the city.

Wallah the Teacher

By the time he completed his secondary education, Wallah had become a master of the Swahili language and was hired to teach at a local school. 

While teaching, he enrolled for his A-levels which he completed in 1976 after which he joined Morogoro Teachers Training College, where he graduated with a Diploma in Education in 1978.

File image of Wallah bin Wallah. [Photo: Courtesy]

He would later enroll at Zanzibar campus for a Degree in Swahili and Arabic and followed it up with a Masters Degree at Dar Es Salaam University.

His first job posting was at Misiani Girls’ Secondary School in Kang’undo. This came after he attained his diploma. he also taught at Moi Girls Isinya and Mbita High School.

Wallah the Author

Wallah started his writing journey while teaching at Mbita High School. His first book was 'Malenga wa Ziwa Kuu' which did well and prompted him to pursue writing as a career.

Following the success of his first book, Wallah resigned from the Teachers Service Commission in 1994 and ventured into private practice at Makini School.

His big breakthrough as an author came in 1996 when he wrote his second book and received an offer from Longhorn to develop a course book, which brought forth Kiswahili Mufti.

He taught and wrote for eight years, before finally dropping the former in 2004 to focus on the latter, where he's been able to write several course books and novels.

As a way of sharing his knowledge, he opened a center at his home where he teaches Swahili to interested persons.

He says in the years he's been in the publishing sector, the least amount of royalty he's earned in a year is Sh20 million as his books are being used in most schools in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda.