By Clement Wasike
The passing on of Raila Amolo Odinga has thus far revealed that in him was a titan of democracy and an unmistakable patriot. That pretty much sums up the main thread of the various tributes delivered during the memorial service in honour of a fallen idol at Nyayo Stadium yesterday.
Thus far the only person to occupy the office of the Prime Minister in post-independence Kenya, Raila was certainly not a conventional politician in the pursuit of power for its own sake. Rather, he was a steadfast champion of concrete ideals. He therefore qualifies as a force who repeatedly placed the nation’s interest before his own ambition.
Agwambo’s was a career etched not in the marble of personal gain, but in the hard-won foundations of a more equitable Kenya. I can only hope that today’s oppositionists have taken note of the traits of a personality who for the longest time has been the poster child of Kenya’s opposition politics.
One need not look far for the evidence of Raila’s commitment to the entrenchment of democratic principles in national governance. In hindsight, Raila’s personal journey was, in many ways, a chronicle of personal sacrifice. During the Moi era, when dissent was swiftly and sometimes brutally suppressed, Raila chose the confines of a detention cell over the comfort of silence. On this score, he stood out like a sore thumb.
For nearly a decade, Raila’s liberty was the price paid for his unwavering belief in a multi-party democracy. This was not, in any hue or vestige, a calculated gamble of a careerist. Instead, it was the profound conviction of a man who valued his country’s freedom highly.
With the advent of reform, Raila channelled his formidable energy into building the institutional architecture for a new Kenya. He was an instrumental architect of our 2010 Constitution, a document that sought to dismantle the imperial presidency and devolve power to the people. In this monumental endeavour, Raila worked not to amass influence for himself, but to distribute power to the grassroots and to entrench the rights of every citizen.
The late ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga. Photo: Tuko Source: Facebook
That tenacity is what has now created a system that will most certainly outlive its founders, Raila being one of the most visible among them. Looking back, Raila’s vision was consistently structural, not personal, and arguably aimed at creating a lasting legacy of governance.
Even at the zenith of his political power, Raila’s actions seem to have been guided by a higher purpose. Following the tragic post-election violence of 2007-2008, the nation stood on the brink of catastrophe. It was Odinga who, setting aside what many of his supporters believed was a legitimate claim to victory, chose the path of statesmanship.
The ensuing Grand Coalition Government and his role as Prime Minister were not a triumph of ambition, but a bold statement of his commitment to national healing. He stepped into a complex and often fraught power-sharing arrangement not to reign, but to reconcile. That demonstrates that to him, Kenya’s stability was paramount.
Perhaps Raila’s most profound act of selfless leadership came in the penumbra of his heydays as the reformist political agitator. That is the “Handshake” with his erstwhile rival, President Uhuru Kenyatta. Here was a man—in spite of losing the elusive prize at the ballot box again—who chose to lower Kenya’s political temperature for the sake of national cohesion.
Raila traded the fervent adulation of the public rally grounds for the quiet onus of building bridges for the greater good to the chagrin of critics and disappointed supporters all to secure a more stable and united Kenya.
The true measure of Raila Odinga’s heroism, therefore, lies in the sacrifices he made. It is a legacy inscribed into the fabric of our nation in indelible ink and whose yield of expanded democratic space we continue to enjoy. That legacy includes today’s reality of devolved governments that have brought services closer to the people. Similarly, the same legacy has planted in Kenyans an enduring spirit of resistance against injustice.
In sum, Raila was, in the truest sense, a significant chip in the conscience of the nation and a leader who fought his hardest battles for the promise of Kenya itself.
For that, his light is unlikely to dim any time soon.
Wasike is a former banker turned social critic and political commentator