Wallah bin Wallah was born in Mwanza, Tanzania, in 1956, and attended both primary and high education in Tanzania.
However, his secondary education was disrupted due to a shortage of school costs.
Wallah was sponsored by missionaries for one and a half years before dropping out to embrace Islam, which he believed would promote his love of the Swahili language.
During a previous interview, he stated that he had to sell fish for three years before being sponsored by the Muslim Youth League, which allowed him to attend Ravals Secondary School in Nairobi.
While studying at Ravals, Wallah had a side career selling peanuts and veggies to help him survive in the city.
By the end of his secondary studies, he had mastered the Swahili language and was hired to teach at a local school.
While teaching, Wallah enrolled in A-levels, which he earned in 1976. He then attended Morogoro Teachers Training College, where he finished with a Diploma in Education in 1978.
Wallah would then enroll at the Zanzibar campus for a degree in Swahili and Arabic, followed by a master’s degree from Dar Es Salaam University.
His first job opportunity was at Misiani Girls’ Secondary School in Kang’undo. This came after he had his diploma.
Wallah has also taught at Moi Girls Isinya and Mbita High School. He began his literary career while teaching at Mbita High School.
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His debut book, Malenga wa Ziwa Kuu, sold well and inspired him to pursue writing as a career.
Following the popularity of his first book, Wallah resigned from the Teachers Service Commission in 1994 and began private practice at Makini School.
His big breakthrough as a novelist occurred in 1996, when he wrote his second book and received an offer from Longhorn to create a course book, which resulted in Kiswahili Mufti.
Wallah taught and wrote for eight years before giving up the former in 2004 to focus on the latter, where he has written multiple course books and novels.
As a method of sharing his expertise, he established a center in his home where he teaches Swahili to anyone interested.
Wallah claims that in his years in the publishing industry, the least amount of royalties he has made in a year is Ksh 20 million, owing to the fact that his books are utilized in the majority of schools in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
