Strathmore Vice‑Chancellor Vincent Ogutu explains his lifelong commitment to Opus Dei, salary donation and celibacy

Strathmore University Vice‑Chancellor Dr Vincent Ogutu says he joined Opus Dei at 16, has donated his salary to the Catholic Church for years and chosen never to marry or own property.

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Dr Vincent Ogutu, Vice‑Chancellor of Strathmore University, says he became a member of the Catholic Opus Dei movement when he was 16 years old.

He confirms that he has been donating his entire salary to the Catholic Church for several years and does not hold any property in his own name.

Ogutu describes giving up marriage as the hardest sacrifice, noting that as a boy from Eastlands he once imagined a conventional family life.

He frames his lack of a personal family as a deliberate choice, seeing the students and mentees he has guided over decades as his “children”.

Ogutu’s academic journey began with a scholarship that took him from Strathmore College to a BA in Economics at the University of Nairobi, an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London and a PhD in Organisational Management from Rutgers University via a Fulbright award.

After a brief week as a journalist at Nation Media Group, he returned to Strathmore as a lecturer, later holding senior academic and administrative posts before being installed as the university’s second Vice‑Chancellor in March 2023.

Marking four decades of Opus Dei membership, Ogutu says the decision was an invitation rather than a command, giving him a sense of freedom that shaped his career and personal life.