For years, PhD students are told to work hard, publish papers, and survive sleepless nights. But according to newly minted PhD holder Dr Irene Mwende, there is one survival rule no one tells you — pray that your supervisor stays alive, employed, and available.
In a blunt Facebook post that has struck a nerve in academic circles, Dr Mwende warned that a supervisor’s death, resignation, or relocation can instantly derail years of doctoral work. When that happens, she says, the PhD journey is often forced back to “square one.”
Her message is simple but chilling: lose your supervisor, and you may lose your PhD.
Dr Mwende shared real-life cases that underline the risk. One PhD student at the University of Nairobi lost a supervisor last year. Another at Moi University watched their supervisor resign and relocate.
Both were reassigned new supervisors midway through their research — a process that proved devastating.
One of them was even forced to transfer universities. Thirteen years later, the Moi University student is still chasing the same PhD.
According to Dr Mwende, supervisor reassignment is not a formality. New supervisors often question already approved proposals, demand changes in methodology, and reopen chapters long considered complete. Progress stalls. Years are lost.
Reflecting on her own success, Dr Mwende openly admitted she prayed throughout her PhD journey for her supervisors, Dr Paul Kariuki and Professor Gregory Namusonge. And she says she will keep praying.
Her words, delivered with humour but loaded with truth, have resonated widely: if your supervisor dies, “wewe kwisha.”
Behind the joke lies a harsh academic reality. For many PhD students, success depends not only on brilliance and discipline, but on forces entirely beyond their control — including the life choices and fate of one person.
For aspiring doctoral candidates, the warning is loud and clear: the PhD journey is not just intellectual. It is fragile, unpredictable, and sometimes, brutally human.