Why Raila Odinga's death was not a single doom

President William Ruto viewing the body of the late Prime Minister Raila Odinga.[PCS]

In William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, Octavius Caesar makes an emotive proclamation on the of death by suicide of his erstwhile triumvir, Mark Antony.

The context in which the immortal declaration was made is as fascinating as it was prophetic. Octavius had been Julius Caesar’s grand nephew and adopted heir while Antony had been his trusted general, friend and cousin.

It was Antony who delivered the famous “friends, Romans, countrymen” speech at Caesar’s funeral which turned the tables against his assassins, and almost got them buried alive by a riotous mob.

In the aftermath of the riots, Antony, Octavius and Lepidus forged a three-man dictatorship to keep Caesar’s legacy alive. However, ambition, power and pride captured them, and they turned their swords against each other.

Antony was ensconced in the warm bosom of Egypt’s enchanting Queen, Cleopatra, when Octavius struck. The two lovers opted to out themselves rather than face the humiliation of defeat and capture.

Presented with news of Antony’s death, Octavius weeps over what had come to pass, and that which he desired; the death of his greatest competitor for power:

“The breaking of so great a thing should make a greater crack,” he cried:

“The round world should have shook lions into civil streets and citizens to their dens,” he added, before unleashing the prophetic words:

“The death of Antony is not a single doom. In the name lay a moiety of the world.”

Octavius proceeded to offer a justification for going after his worthy competitor; one of them had to “left” the world, the world had not been big for both of them, and irreconcilable fates beset them.

With his foremost threat gone, Octavius marched back to Rome as a hero, adopted the name Augustus and ruled Rome henceforth as its first Emperor.

The death of Antony, indeed, had not been a single doom. The Roman republic died with him, and in its place was born the Augustus empire which ruled Rome for the next 40 years.

As it will become apparent in this article, the events of Rome and what befell us in October have close parallels. On the morning of October 15, Kenya woke up to news that no one was prepared to countenance, except for the finality of it.

Her second Prime Minister, larger-than-life political figure, and leader of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) had died in Kerala, in far away India.

What had started out as coordinated, cryptic and curious emojis by Kenya Kwanza bloggers transfigured into a national heartbreak when President William Ruto confirmed the nation’s worst fears.

But it was the circumstance of it which was more heart-rending. A retired Prime Minister, unarguably a national treasure and most consequential leader of modern Kenya, had gone missing from the country for weeks.

Despite his absence in the country raising political brouhaha, neither his political machinery (ODM)nor the government he was propping at the time, came out clean on his whereabouts or mission.

His own wife, Ida Odinga, had in fact disowned rumour of ill-health, saying her husband was taking a deserved rest.

It was not until his straight-shooting brother Dr. Oburu Odinga and Odinga rebellious former aide Dr. Caroli Omondi spoke, that the reality of what the country was bracing for began to come out.

Dr. Omondi simply asked Kenyans to pray for the former Premier while his Dr. Oburu announced that his brother was recuperating in India. Later revelations that the ODM leader had elected, of his own accord, to travel to an Indian province to seek unconventional medical help were shocking.

At 80 years of age, and with the combination of life-threatening conditions revealed post-the-fact, it was almost inconceivable to imagine that he set out to fight for his life with such a meagre representation of the broad mosaic of family and friends.

This is not to say his daughter, sister, bodyguard and doctor were not enough nor to say a broader representation would have changed the course of events. Far from it.

But here was a man who had given the best of his life to his country, and continent. The country’s longest post-independence political prisoner, he enjoyed unparalleled fanatical following in the country.

He offered to lead the country five times, and was rigged out most of the time by powers afraid of his inescapably consequential rule. His sunset offer to lead the African Union Commission dissipated in the altar of cheap continental politics, foreign powers manipulation of vote dynamics, and covert regional sabotage.

All through, he took his losses with grace and unmistakable pragmatism. Given the power he wielded in Kenya politics and his past service to the country, it was taken for granted that his personal health was a matter of national security.

A decision on where to seek medical help, what kind of help, from whom and when, it was hoped, was not an exclusive jurisdiction of himself or his immediate family.

The confirmation of Odinga’s death, however, shattered this myth. Apparently, he had been gliding the Kenyan political space on his own all along, counting on celestial grace and sporadic benevolence of sitting Presidents.

“His was a path walked with conviction. He bore the scars of struggle with dignity, knowing that freedom was not free and that truth often demands sacrifice, President Ruto mourned him, crediting his enduring vision of a democratic, just and united country.

Only two years ago, President Ruto had come down hard on Odinga over the anti-government demos of 2023. The hallmark of the brutal crackdown was gunshots directed at Mr. Odinga’s car, the most brazen assassination attempt on his life.

But over the last one year, they had patched up, united in fear of the Gen Z uprising which threatened to bury them all. President Ruto had facilitated Odinga’s India trip after the ODM leader confided in him his health woes.

“There can be no doubt that Hon Raila Odinga was the most significant leader of our democratic experiment. He carried himself with courage and grace and his voice, sometimes fiery, sometimes soft, always echoed with purpose,” the President added.

For the period Kenya mourned, President Ruto showered his political mentor with a host of platitudes. From “quintessential progressive and reformer”, “selfless patriot,” “towering figure in our history” to “statesman without an equal.”

And from titan of conscience, defender of the defenceless, Kenya’s foremost statesman, once-in-a-generation leader, colossus of Kenya’s politics, indomitable warrior, beacon of courage, tower of principle and father of our democracy.

The platitudes, however, paled in comparison to the manner his death was managed from India. Kenyans were still coming to terms with the happenings when videos emerged, purporting to show their hero fighting for his life.

Other leaks captured him taking morning strolls in his most vulnerable moment as a patient. Others had what was said to be his lifeless body being wheeled around hospital corridors, with very little regard to his stature.

But if India had little appreciation of who Odinga was, the statement was made loud and clear upon his casket landing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on October 16.

An outpouring sea of humanity from all works of life stormed the runway, in honour of the man. Throughout the entire mourning period, Kenyans turned out in style to honour a man who meant so many things to them.

His death, just like Antony’s, was not a single doom for Kenya and he is why.

For one, Odinga’s mettle had been forged in the pyre of Kenya’s complex political history, her conflicting legacies, contrasting values, and clashing visions.

Born of a nationalist father whose name equally preceded him, the younger Odinga grew up in the feet of the country’s foremost patriots, observing the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Tom Mboya and the late Mzee Kenyatta.

He not only experienced their great promise but also their fall-out. He lived the original dream of a united country but also saw it dissipate in ungoverned ambition, selfishness, private gain and short-term outlook.

Odinga was thus a rare historical production whose grooming, experiences, weltanschauung (world view)- educated in East Germany- had no match in the present generation of leaders.

Simply put, he towered above them like a colossus, making him truly a once-in-a-generation phenomenon.

It mattered little that his vision was incongruent with the outlook of the very Kenyans he sought to lead. He did not compromise his core beliefs to pander to the whims of the times, for quick electoral wins.

Two, his political resolve had been affirmed through personal sacrifice which is now a matter of public record. Odinga endured long periods of incarceration during which he was separated not only from his own family, loved ones, but also fellow prisoners.

Through personal sacrifice, Odinga had demonstrated his love for his country. He had embraced the greater good for the greatest majority at the expense of his immediate security and family comfort.

And despite experiencing several waves of arrest, he did not waver in his conviction for a freer, democratic and modern country where rule of law prevailed. Courage became his second name.

When a man survives worst possible scenarios, including physical and mental torture, physical hurt and death, very little else can shake them. The badge of honour they carry lives with them, even in death.

Three, arising from above, Odinga honed incredibly rare political skills which served himself and the country well. Depending on the seasons, Odinga was able to reinvent himself, seize moments and endear himself to voters.

From a political prisoner, to a first-term MP in parliament crowded by political stars including his father Jaramogi, and to party leader, Minister, king-maker, five-time presidential candidate, and to a Prime Minister.

By the time Nigerian biographer Babafemi Badejo gave him the “Enigma” title, Odinga had long earned it by the sweat of his brow and ingenuity of political moves. Many people forget that he was not quite his father’s favourite for a political heir.

Still, he turned the tables on his competitors in mid 90’s, eclipsed his erstwhile competitors at the time- James Orengo, Paul Muite and Gitobu Imanyara, and not only inherited his father’s political space but also tremendously expanded it.

For the five times he tried his luck at the presidency, Odinga packaged and repackaged himself afresh to appeal to generations of voters.

For three successive elections and deploying a host of tactics, he convinced former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka to back him, despite the latter’s known throbbing ambition.

Even in his last attempt in 2022, when he swapped Musyoka for Martha Karua, he still managed to get him on his hooks. He stage-managed a bogus interview and which Musyoka had no qualms participating in.

In the twists and turns of his politics, Odinga decorated the Kenyan political scene a great deal. He coined and deployed alluring slogans, catch-phrases and songs which captured the nation’s attention.

From tinga, rainbow, nyundo, pentagon, summit, azimio, baba, canaan, last bullet, tialala, nasa to his riddles and football commentary, he had an inimitable way to win the crowds.

For instance, Jubilee adherents have since confessed that the song “nasa, nasa, nasa” tormented them a great deal in 2017. And until the “nobody can stop reggae” campaign to amend the constitution was upended by the courts, President Ruto’s side was cowing like a deer caught in the headlights.

Four, with the ethnic configuration of our republic, alliance-building is an inevitable necessity of our political conduct and practice. Odinga was an excellent, formidable alliance-builder of special repute.

From his Rainbow Coalition exploits at the turn of the century, to the teams he assembled in his subsequent presidential campaigns, he simply had no match. His towering stature in Kenya’s political space and notoriety in the public sphere no doubt helped him.

However, there was certainly a method to his madness as illustrated in the manner he extracted Musyoka’s tribal bloc vote for three successive elections. In 2007, he assembled a star-studded constellation which knocked the daylights off Kibaki’s lacklustre “kazi iendelee” team.

His brilliance was such that he made something out of nothing, and equipped politicians with purposes they did not know existed about them. The late Joseph Nyagah, a member of the ODM Summit of 2007 was one such example.

By all accounts, Nyagah stood no chance of delivering any meaningful vote to ODM, or even capturing the Gachoka seat. His family’s political fortunes had long dissipated in the air when Odinga picked him and placed him at the top, largely for visual purposes.

Another notable example was former Summit member Najib Balala. From Mombasa, he was thrust onto the national stage as the ultimate figurehead for the Muslim vote, causing serious political waves on the national stage at Odinga’s bidding and behest.

Whenever Odinga was done with those he propped, it was by pricking their balloons with a tiny pin and flat again they would be. They all disappeared from whence they came from.

To date, the ultimate survivors of his political ruthlessness and betrayal are Musyoka and President Ruto. But even they had to retreat first, repackage themselves and approach him to deal.

Five, Odinga had established himself as the political and moral icon of Kenya’s struggles. It is arguable how this came about but the fact of it is incontestable. Until he died, Odinga was the person many looked up to for political redemption.

This explains the bile that was witnessed when Gen Zee’s closed in on President Ruto’s regime and Odinga refused to play ball. From his account, the greater good lay in propping Ruto’s regime against the young revolutionaries.

Many other accounts have been offered, including the feeling that he saw an opportunity to negotiate out of the predicament he had found himself in. Whatever the case, many Kenyans were looking up to his move over that period.

Before that, it was known that he was the only political force capable of stalling or progressing the entire country. His word almost had a force of law, and granted Kenyans many public holidays as he flexed his political muscles.

Odinga death was certainly not a single doom. In his name lay the epitome of the nation’s courage, the quintessential Kenyan patriot, the living emblem of nation’s courage and sacrifice, and brilliance, nay the soul, of Kenya’s politics.

The country’s last credible bulwark against entrenched dictatorship went down in Kang’o Ka Kajaramogi in Odinga’s casket. In the coming days, Kenyans will begin to come to terms with the spirit they lost.

Already, it is manifesting itself in the dearth of meaningful, quality opposition politics, beyond the “wantam” rhetoric. The Kenya Kwanza side, on the other hand, has taken full note of the political gap left by Odinga’s exit and has begun to send bad feelers.

With Odinga now pushing up the daisies, there will be no respite for Kenyans, in a long time to come. Kenyans are the ultimate losers