The valleys and mountains that defined Raila's political career

On Wednesday, Raila Odinga, an enigma and doyen of Kenyan politics who rose from a dissident and detainee to a top presidential contender and a king without a throne, rested.

Raila, a formidable hero of the country’s second liberation, was loathed and adored in equal measure. But regardless of how one viewed the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader in life, all Kenyans joined voices to express their condolence to the fallen hero.

The son of Kenya’s first post-independence vice president, fondly referred to as Agwambo (Luo word for mystery) and Jakom (chairperson),  lived to the status of the Head of State despite not clinching the presidency in all the for contentions he participated.

Raila’s entry into Kenyan politics was as controversial as his political journey: from the events of the 1982 attempted coup that led to his detention for nearly ten years to the storming a meeting in 1992 that his father had summoned for the Ford Kenya’s National Delegates Conference that cemented his place in the national politics.

Patriotic Kenyan

After the attempted coup, Raila was arrested and charged with treason. He was released six years later, in February 1988, only for him to be detained again in August of the same year. He was later released in June 1989.

Raila was later placed under house arrest for seven months after evidence seemed to implicate him, along with his father, for collaborating with the plotters of the failed coup attempt.

Former Nyeri MP Wanyiri Kihoro, who was detained alongside Raila for three years, says they were moved to Naivasha, Kamiti and Shimo La Tewa maximum prisons. He described Raila as a patriotic Kenyan leader who always stood for what was right and an ardent fighter for democracy.

“On October 9, 1962, Raila accompanied his father who I had known before knowing him, to Uganda to celebrate the country’s independence. When I learnt about this issue, I realized that he would grow to become an iconic figure in Kenyan politics,” recalled Kihoro.

The Ford Kenya party’s succession politics put Raila at loggerheads with his father but depicted him as a go-getter and an independent minded person. The 46-year-old Raila, accompanied by a group of a rowdy youth, stormed the meeting his father was addressing, causing a moment of panic.

Although it is said that the move angered his father, who directed him to tell the ‘boys’ to stop shouting, his message to position himself paid off when he was later appointed Director of Elections and later earned him a ticket to contest as a MP for Langata.

Following his father’s death in 1994, Raila challenged the late Michael Kijana Wamalwa, who was Oginga’s deputy and First Vice Chairperson, to succeed him but after it proved futile, he resigned from the party and joined the National Development Party (NDP).

During a meeting at Thika Stadium on March 18 1995 that was seeking Oginga’s replacement, chaos erupted when Raila’s supporters clashed with those of Wamalwa’s, a move that led to Raila’s resignation.

“The time has come to change course. I wish to inform you that I have resigned as a member of FORD Kenya. I hereby tender my resignation as a Member of Parliament,” said Raila before joining NDP and successfully recapturing the Langata parliamentary seat.

Political analyst Barrack Muluka observes that although Raila wanted to succeed his father, he could not surmount the combined forces of Wamalwa, Paul Muite, James Orengo, Peter Anyang Nyong’o, John Kapten, Mukhisa Kituyi, Gitobu Imanyara and a host of other then youthful politicians who went under the generic moniker of Young Turks, against him.

Francis Ole Kaparo, a former Speaker of the National Assembly, said the move by Raila to resign from a political party whose ideologies he did not believe in showed he was principled and did not shy away from losing his seat as had been the case in modern politics.

“He was not afraid to take bold decisions. This has never happened again in the politics of our country. Leaders decamp without resigning and start going against the very parties that sponsored them to Parliament,” Ole Kaparo said in a phone interview with The Standard.

Kaparo recalled how Raila and his father served in the National Assembly over which he presided, saying it was Oginga and former Interior Minister the late George Saitoti who escorted him to take his first oath of office. Kaparo served as Speaker for 15 years with Raila as Langata MP from 1992 to 2013.   

“One thing that was clear about Raila is that he was a political animal. He loved politics and understood what ought to be done for Kenya and he agitated for it regardless of the consequences,” Kaparo said.

While defending Raila’s move to shake hands with Presidents, Kaparo maintained that the move was driven by his interest in the country, saying many people did not understand his ways as he always put the country ahead of his ambitions.

Dr Muluka says many political players thought Raila would be erased from Kenyan politics after he was defeated by Wamalwa but it was the moment that would make his political future.

“Raila metamorphosed swiftly and went on to redefine himself in the unfolding political environment. While some thought that he had been licked, they had seen nothing yet. He  resigned from Ford Kenya and from his seat as the Member of Parliament for Langata. Thus began the rise and rise of the son of Oginga. In the process, he fought many battles, crushed many heads underfoot and got many former foes to literally kneel before him. His third task, after owning a political party and winning the Langata seat, was to fight for the soul of the Luo people,” he noted.

Raila made his first stab at the presidency in 1997 when he vied on the NDP ticket and garnered 667,886 votes. He came third after Mwai Kibaki’s 1,911,742 with President Moi winning with 2,500,865 votes.

In a political move that sent shockwaves in the opposition, Raila joined Moi’s administration in 1998 ,leading to a political merger between his party and the ruling Kanu. Kanu was rebranded New Kanu.

Following the merger, Raila was appointed Energy Minister and the new party’s Secretary General, replacing former Mathioya MP Joseph Kamotho.

In 2002, Raila ditched Kanu and joined like-minded leaders to form the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc). His “Kibaki tosha” remark made Kibaki defeat Moi’s preferred successor Uhuru Kenyatta in the year’s general election, with 67 per cent of the vote.

Trouble between Raila and President Kibaki, however, started after the latter failed to honour a pre-election Memorandum of Understanding that had indicated half of the Cabinet positions would go to those affiliated with Raila’s LDP.

Though Raila had been appointed Minister, he differed with Kibaki during the State-backed constitutional review and joined hands with the likes of Uhuru Kenyatta whose side frustrated the government’s efforts to deliver a new constitution.

During a referendum held on November 21, 2005, the government lost by 57 per cent against to 43 per cent , a move that led Raila to form the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

A disappointed Kibaki sacked the entire Cabinet on November 23 2005.

When it was reconstituted two weeks later, Raila and the entire LDP group were left out.

In 2007, Raila used his ODM party to vie for the presidency against Kibaki and garnered 4,352,993 against Kibaki’s 4,584,72. Kalonzo Musyoka, who had vied for the top seat through ODM Kenya, garnered 879,903.

But following the post-election violence that left over 1,500 dead and 300,000 internally displaced persons,  the former United Nations Secretary General, the late Kofi Annan midwifed the 2007/2008 mediation process, which saw Raila  appointed as the  Prime Minister while Kibaki retained the presidency.

Kibaki and Raila worked together and delivered the 2010 Constitution that introduced the 47 devolved units, independent institutions, created a bicameral Parliament with a National Assembly and a Senate, and strengthened the Bill of Rights with new social and economic rights.