Now that former Prime Minister (PM) Raila Odinga has gone to the land without thunder, I have paused to think about this enigma of a man. Born of a legend, he charted his own path to become a legend himself. From obscurity, he crafted his own story through tears, sweat and blood. Enduring incarceration and detention for long periods of time, and, from his testimony, kept incommunicado for six years, it is a wonder he didn’t lose the ability to speak.
Six years of loneliness were made even more torturous by sleeping on a bare concrete floor without a mattress. He rose from the ashes like the famed Phoenix and went on to become the second PM of the Republic of Kenya! Despite his national and global stature, Baba remained simple to the core. I had the privilege of sharing the seventh of January as a birthday, and every year for the last seven years, I would call him to wish him a happy birthday. I will forever cherish his laughter as he thanked me for wishing him well.
I called Baba on a number of other occasions. I recall that during the 2022 campaign season, I called him regarding his then-pending visit to Nyeri. I advised him not to mention his relationship with Uhuru Kenyatta in Mt Kenya if he wanted to get votes there because the region was revolting against Uhuru. I asked him to hype the “Kibaki Tosha” moment and promise my people jobs and positions in government. He listened silently but then told me that it was an open secret that he was the Azimio candidate, a coalition that was led by Uhuru. When I pondered over that statement, which he repeated to me in Makueni two weeks before his visit, it had me thinking that ordinary mortals could have gone with the idiom,” the end justifies the means,” and selfishly ignore the fourth president’s quest for votes. Raila chose to stand by Azimio, no matter the loss incurred. His opening line when he came to Mt Kenya was “pokeeni salamu kutoka kwa rafiki yangu na Rais wa Jamhuri, Mheshimiwa Uhuru Kenyatta!”
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I recall another engagement I had with him after Nyeri County constructed the Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi statue and monument at Karunaini Shrine. I had tried reaching President Kenyatta in vain. We had written letters through the Head of Public Service, then Joseph Kinyua, but nothing positive came out of it. Knowing how much he adored freedom fighters, I asked Baba to secure Uhuru’s commitment to come and launch the monument. A date was set, but an international assignment came u,p and both Baba and Uhuru had to travel out of the country.
I have had interactions with Baba in Kisumu Airport on two occasions. His mind was a historical museum of sorts. One day we flew together on KQ from Mombasa to Nairobi. Baba noted a book I was reading, ‘Dedan Kimathi on trial’ by Julie Macarthur. He immediately got interested in it and asked that he scan through it. The book is the closest there has been to getting real records of the trial. Julie led a team of researchers who unearthed authentic of original typed copies of statements made by witnesses, lawyers and even Kimathi himself. In the 55 minutes we were on that plane, Baba had narrated to me the evils and untruths surrounding that trial. When we alighted, he asked that I give him the book once I finished reading it. I gave it to him immediately.
Every time we met, he would tell me that the book was somewhere in his library. He would reflect on the shoddy trial of Kimathi and lament the injustice. I learnt over time that he was an avid reader, no wonder he was a historian par excellence.
I reached out to Raila the Sunday before Parliament debated Deputy President (DP) Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment. We had just left a church service at the Deputy President’s Karen residence, where we had assembled to seek God’s intervention in the matter. Later, a thought crossed my mind. Why not call the PM and seek his support on the impeachment since he controlled a majority of the Opposition MPs in his ODM party? The phone rang only once, and Raila picked it up. I informed Gachagua that I had Raila on the line. Raila agreed to speak to Gachagua. They spoke, and their spouses also talked. We were desperate. Baba couldn’t commit to directing the MPs to vote in a certain way. Instead, he said he would ask his MPs to vote with their conscience.
I join the nation in honouring this champion of democracy. Fare thee well, Agwambo, Jakom, Tinga, Baba!
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By Mutahi Kahiga