Who will replace Raila Odinga?

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I know when your eyes darted across the sentence that makes the title of this article, you thought I am insinuating that Raila Odinga is a small irreplaceable god. No. That’s not the idea I intend to pass across. The closest the former Prime Minister can get to construct a blameless character is perhaps when he reminds us of the fact that he is an engineer by profession. Nothing else.

Raila has had his share of faults. First, in 2007, his presidential campaign team was accused of coining the phrase ’41 Against 1’ which essentially connoted the rest of Kenya against the Kikuyu nation. He denied knowledge of such a slogan during the 2013 presidential debate. Second, as a Prime Minister, Raila’s office was allegedly involved in some scandals – the Kazi kwa vijana and Maize scams – in which an audit by PwiceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) revealed his noninvolvement but found his junior officers culpable.

Third, there is the party ODM and its pseudo-democratic practices especially in Luoland. ODM party primaries have been marred with favoritism and nepotism and much as the party’s bark dogs would want voters to believe that Raila, the party leader, has never had a hand in the ever shambolic nomination processes particularly since the party has its own independent and autonomous election’s board, a greater segment of the populace think otherwise. Voters consider Raila’s likely influence over party officials and possible bias triggered by desire to suppress dissidents and maintain charge.

With this brief elucidation in mind, you should now realize that this article is not to portray Raila as irreproachable or faultless. He is not. He cannot be. In fact, no one is flawless. No one is impeccable. Even Lucifer – once a holy angel in heaven – picked up a fight with God, way back before we came to be.

This article is about something so special about Raila that makes him a man Kenya should not lose to retirement, and if it has to happen because we are not in charge of the clock anyway, someone closer to his character should be perched on the substitute’s bench already.
What is this exceptional skill that makes Raila irreplaceable? You know it. All Kenyans know it. It’s the art of opposing the government.

Who will replace the brave Raila who has kept three successive governments under strict watch? Former president Moi knows him as a man who fears nothing. Not the bedbugs in jail, not the decomposers in the grave. He does not qualm in the presence of gunshots. News of government eliminating dissidents does not shake the foundation of his bravery. He is a goal post that remains erect no matter how many times the ball hits it.

Perhaps you do not have an idea what I am talking about. Here is a better illustration. In the case of Andrew Muindi Naulikha vs. Attorney-General we come to know the horror the second liberators faced for our sake. In this case, the petitioner was arrested on 11th February, 1991 and taken to Kapchonge Police Station where on arrival, one police officer slapped him hard on his left ear, alleging that he had undergone military training in Libya so he could plan subversive activities of an unlawful organization known as “February Eighteen Movement” (FERA). He was handcuffed and chained around his waist and taken to Bungoma before the District Intelligence Officer who grilled him for three days. Thereafter he was taken to Nairobi where he spent the night at the Central Police Station and on the following day was blindfolded and taken to Nyayo House Torture Chambers. He was taken before a panel of interrogators who forced him to strip naked. They assaulted him with slaps, rubber whips, broken chair parts, kicks, blows and tyre strips. They demanded that he admit his involvement in anti-government activities, which he denied. His tormentors applied electric shock to his private parts and threatened to castrate him. They even introduced safari ants into the petitioner’s small dark cell.
At the end of every interrogation session the interrogators sprayed the petitioner with pressurized water for several hours. The petitioner was held incommunicado and in such circumstances for 19 days. The petitioner decided to go on hunger strike to protest his mistreatment and lack of medical attention since he was ailing. He was seen by a doctor. Later, he was taken before the Director of Special Branch who told the petitioner that he was aware that the petitioner had committed subversive activities that amounted to treason and that he was at liberty to either take him to court or have him detained without trial or even kill him. The petitioner continued to deny the allegations that were being leveled against him. On 1st march, 1991 the petitioner was taken to Kamiti Maximum Prison where he was photographed and fingerprints taken and thereafter released on condition that he reports to his local police station twice a week and also to the local special branch office once every two weeks for a period of three years. As a result of the aforesaid acts of torture, the petitioner suffered physically and psychologically. His marital life was also put in jeopardy as his manhood was rendered dysfunctional. Even after his release, Special Branch Police Officers occasionally trailed and monitored the petitioner’s movements and harassed his friends and relatives.
-Source: Kenya Law Reports

This is what Raila never ran away from. In 1982, he was placed under house arrest for months before being detained without trial for six years. He was released in 1988 but unlike cowards like you, Raila did not run to the village to celebrate coming face to face with the sun. He continued the fight for democracy despite knowing pretty well that Moi’s henchmen were baying for his blood. He was re-arrested in 1988, released in 1989 only to be re-arrested in 1990 together with Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia for getting involved in human rights activities and pro-democracy demonstrations.

Who will replace him? Who’s got a more solid blood?

Who will uncover the government’s corrupt deeds? Who will access information on government’s misdeeds and dig out the thieving and conniving moves by the executive? Raila has invested in information so much that he seems to be keeping custody of records on government transactions. He knows how much was deposited and what amounts were withdrawn, when, where and by whom. Sometimes he catches even the presidency unaware. Again, in case you have no idea what I am saying, I refer you to the cases of Artur Brothers and Ann Waiguru.

In a country with a moribund economy that supports only the opulent lifestyle of the political class, we need someone who will be taking over from Raila. Someone who will make the government think twice (at least) before stealing from the public. Imagine Kenya with Musalia Mudavadi as the opposition leader!

Who will replace a man who at times soothes our ears with wise words? He is not Solomon and he is not anywhere near your grandmother who I am told is an ageing Mahatma Gandhi. But Raila has his own intelligent ways of invoking emotion. I will share what my memory has.

1. In 2008 when stupid Kenyans decided to kill their fellow countrymen, Kalonzo Musyoka who had then been appointed the Vice President by Kibaki, invited both Raila and Kibaki for negotiations. Feeling Kalonzo betrayed the Kenyan spirit and while turning down the invitation, Raila said: Jesus cannot sit in a meeting chaired by Judas Iscariot.

2. During the 2013 presidential debate, one of the moderators asked Raila why he chooses tribal heads to form a political alliance with. The author of the question gave example of the 2007 Pentagon which was made up of five tribal kingpins. In a witty reply, Raila said people do not come from the moon; they must belong to certain tribes.

3. After the Supreme Court confirmed President Uhuru Kenyatta the winner of the 2013 presidential election, the aggrieved Raila said he accepted the verdict but did not agree with it. Weeks later, while addressing a gathering in Kisumu, Raila said only two courts have sat on Easter; the Pontius Pilate court that convicted Jesus and Kenya’s Supreme Court that stole his victory.

4. When Moses Kuria went public on his role on fixing Ruto at the ICC, Raila jokingly said, “Ruto’s prayers have started working. Those who fixed him are coming out.”

5. While addressing the press on the Eurobond scandal, Raila said that the Jubilee administration was overborrowing, overspending and overstealing.

Who will replace Raila? From whose mouth shall we hear pithy remarks? Who has mastered the art of employing humor at a time when political tempers are reducing spaces meant for civic engagement? In a country whose intellectual conversations are initiated and contributed to by characters who are academically shallow, annoyingly arrogant and grossly immature, the best thing that can happen to the nation is the birth of another Raila.

Who will replace a man who draws political support from majority communities in a country where perpetrators of negative ethnicity are celebrated and branded brave? From which womb shall we get another Raila? Who will make non-members of his tribe find shelter in his leadership? Beyond Kikiyu’s territorial boundaries, Uhuru struggles to move a crowd. Ruto does not inspire even nursery school kids in Narok. Kalonzo is hopeless without Kambas. I’d rather not talk about Wetangula.
But Raila? Luo, Kissi, Luhya, Maasai, Turkana, Coast, Samburu, North Eastern, all are in his basket. Do you want to tell me you don’t know why?

Who will take over the mantle? Who is this person who knows the concerns of the marginalized communities and who risks his freedom and life in pursuit for a solution? Who will represent fears of the ordinary Kenyan citizen? Who will give them hope?

Who will appeal to ethnic communities other than his and his running mate’s? In a country where allegiance is to the tribe, with Christians making God look cheap and educated people using their grandmothers’ tiny brains, another Raila will be a blessing.

Who is that leader who will be so democratic as to accept vituperative remarks on his person and accommodate insults – including spitefully published defamatory comments – without seeking to punish the offenders in court? Who can be a country’s Prime Minister and yet contain his ego and power and allow the Miguna Migunas of this world to speak as loud as their throats can allow and as far-fetched as the stretchable boundaries of the law may permit, all in the name of criticism? And who will be called kihii for three decades and yet still hang on to the dream of making Kenyans understand that there is a reason why Jomo Kenyatta (the founding father of tribalism) and Oginga Odinga were friends in 1963?

Jim Asudi

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About Author

I am a lawyer by school and a writer by talent...God is omnipresent, Jesus is in heaven, Satan resides on earth, Literature lives in me.

6 Comments

  1. I totally agree with you on Railas contributions to Kenya as a whole……but He was the Prime Minister for 5 years, and Did nothing for the marginalized you are talking about…..a good case in point……The demolition of the slum setting of Mitumba which was under his constituency. He Did Nothing for the slum dwellers.

    • Slum upgrading project (which is replacement of mabati structures with concrete houses) was Raila’s idea. I’m not going to compare it with Jubille’s cleaning of sewers because that’s not the issue here…As a Prime Minister, Raila was not the sole decision maker. Most of his plans were frustrated and vetoed by Kibaki’s side of the coalition (which was the government, in reality). Recently, Raila successfully fought against importation of sugar from Uganda in order to save our suffering cane farmers

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