Radio Fortune Africa -Ukweli na Burudani

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Cantona Joseph|RFA

Personal tragedy, setbacks, and betrayals were situations Raila Odinga became familiar with. It has been a struggle throughout his life, and l half-heartedly find it appropriate to say that finally, he will find a long rest.

He was born in 1945 when his father was a teacher at Maseno, the then citadel of the Church of England in Western Kenya.

It was a time of great social transformation when western churches were beginning to shape different aspects of the African society, resulting in a clash with African traditional customs.

When Oginga took Raila and his other siblings for baptism at Maseno, Rev Nyende chased them away for not having Christian names. Odinga, being a traditionalist, had insisted on giving his children African names.

Consequently, Odinga wrote to the main diocese in Nairobi complain that his children had been denied baptism for not having Christian names. Nairobi wrote back stating that there was nothing in the Church’s constitution that stopped one from being baptised using an African name.

However, despite this directive, no African priest was ready to baptise Raila and his siblings. Eventually, Odinga found a European priest at Maseno who agreed to carry out the baptisms. But there was another problem.

Raila’s mother refused to accompany them to church because of the humiliation she had suffered on the previous occasion when the priest chased them away.

In the event, Odinga sought the assistance of his students at Maseno, who helped him carry Raila and other siblings to church for baptism. Fortunately, his wife later calmed down and joined them in the church. Raila was baptised as Raila Amolo Odinga, Oburu as Ng’ong’a Molo Oburu and Agola as Ngire Omuodo Agola.

In 1962, Odinga, who by then joined politics and was a leading nationalist decided to send his son Raila abroad for higher education behind Iron Curtain, where he had developed connections. But there was another problem. The Colonial government resented communism, and Odinga, being the Soviet point man in East Africa, closely monitored. Because of this, Raila couldn’t secure a passport.

According to Mi5 intelligence documents, the young Raila travelled with a lady called Achieng to Tanzania, where they were issued with Tanganyikan passports for their onward journey.

He returned in 1970 to find his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga in detention. This detention took a toll on Odinga’s family. His businesses had to close down as creditors came knocking. The family was now languishing in poverty. Some of Odinga’s children had finished school but couldn’t find jobs because anything Odinga was considered a threat to the government.

To make ends meet and to support the family, Raila started business, later worked at UoN before joining Kenya Bureau of Standards. But just when , he thought things were getting better, he suffered another tragedy when his brother Frederick Odima Odinga committed suicide in the home of Achieng Oneko at Woodley Estate Nairobi where he was being accommodated in 1975. Odima had become so frustrated with life.

In 1978, the Odinga family home was wiped clean by auctioneers. Not even cooking pots were spared.

In 1982, both Raila and his father were arrested and detained after being implicated in 1982. While in prison putting up with daily torture, tragedies came calling in quick succession in 1984. First, he lost his dear mother, a tragedy he was only informed two months later by the prison warden.

A couple of months later, he lost his brother Omuodo Agola, who died shorty after coming out of prison, where he had been confined on an allegation of causing an accident.

Agola was diabetic and, therefore, had to inject himself regularly. However, prison authorities blocked him from accessing his medication, worsening his condition. He was taken to Kakamega Hospital by prison officers who chained him on his hospital bed.

Even though Omuodo was freed by the court, which found him not guilty of the offence, it was too late because diabetes had completely ravaged his health. He died young, in his 30s.

In 1988, Raila’s wife Ida Odinga, was kicked out of teachers’ quarters at Kenya High and dismissed on the basis of “public interest.””

After stints in prison, Raila joined politics and became one of the leading agitators of multipartism, but soon he fled to flee to exile. He returned to Kenya in 1992 after one year in Norway and became the leading voices of opposition politics.

He lost his father a couple of years later, a situation that resulted in a power struggle within Ford Kenya. He eventually decided to walk out and form his part NDP. He later worked with Moi in KANU and played a role in bringing NARC to power, but he was sidelined as soon Kibaki occupied the house on the hill. In 2007 he led an aggressive, well-oiled political campaign that almost brought him to power, but he was rigged out.

Perhaps his biggest tragedy was losing his firstborn son, who was viewed by many as heir. Even though he put on a brave face, I really doubt whether he overcame this loss.

At the time of his death was nolonger a radical politician of the 90s but a statesman who put the stability of his nation first.

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