Death and Raila – the President that never was

He was a man who lived a very combative life, much of it in the public eye. The prize he desired the most – to be President of Kenya – was the one he was never destined to have. Five times he contested for the position. Five times he lost. Every time he disputed the verdict. But he never lost heart.

That heart finally gave out on the 15th October in faraway Kerala, India, on a routine morning walk, where he was seeking Ayurvedic treatment for diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disease, ailments that regularly bedevil Africans, especially in their twilight years. He had a cardiac arrest, slumped, and soon was gone.

Staying on the theme of heart, a few days after his death, Raila was conferred with the title of Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya (CGM), Kenya’s highest national honour, by his old adversary, President William Ruto, ‘in recognition of his service to the Kenyan nation’.

He was easily one of Kenya’s, and Africa’s, most controversial politicians.

Even death could not douse the ardour of his supporters. On the day after his death, thousands of mourners gathered at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to receive his body, forcing the Airports Authority to suspend flights and close the country’s airspace for some hours.

The venue for the official lying in state had to be changed from the front of Parliament to the Moi International Sports Centre to accommodate the surging crowds. There was a stampede, and reportedly four people were killed and several others injured in the ensuing melee. Kenyan police, always known for a heavy hand, were alleged to have fired some shots.

Raila Amolo Odinga was born on 7th January 1945 in Maseno, in what was then known as the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya. His father was the well-known politician Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.

There is no disputing how Raila got his radical activist streak. The family came from the Luo ethnic group, the fourth largest ethnicity in Kenyan. In 1964 Oginga became the first Vice President of the Kenyan Republic, in the government of President Jomo Kenyatta. His ideological orientation was Socialism, and he pushed for close alliance with the Eastern block and Warsaw Pact ‘Communist’ countries during the Cold War, while Jomo Kenyatta took Kenya in the direction of the United States and the Western bloc of ‘Capitalist’ nations. They soon parted ways, and Odinga, who himself had eyes on the Presidency, resigned from office and quit Jomo Kenyatta’s party to form the Kenya People’s Union (KPU) in 1966.

There was public bad blood between the two erstwhile allies, and he was arrested and detained in 1969 after a verbal altercation with the President. KPU was banned.

Oginga died in 1994.

There is a curious detail concerning the relationship between Raila and his father Oginga. Oginga is alleged to have laid a curse on Raila for undermining him at a political event where he was presiding, prophesying that he would never be President of Kenya.

The story of Raila reads like a tale of perpetual combat. After early education in Kisumu district, he travelled to East Germany to study Mechanical Engineering. On his return, he started a business and later joined the Civil Service.

In 1982, there was a failed coup attempt against the government of President Daniel Arap Moi. Several lives were lost.

Raila and his father were placed under arrest on suspicion of collusion with the coup plotters.

Over the next three decades, Raila immersed himself fully in politics. He was detained several times for opposition activities. He won local elections and served in Parliament. He was appointed Minister, and for a spell served as Prime Minister of Kenya.

In 1997, he made his first bid for the Presidency. He lost.

In 2007, he ran again. He lost.

He was back in battle in 2013, 2017 and 2022.

After his 2017 election loss to Uhuru Kenyatta, he approached the Supreme Court, which cancelled the results and ordered a rerun. Raila decided to boycott the rerun.

Soon afterwards, he had himself sworn in at a public ceremony in Nairobi as ‘the People’s President’.

He eventually reconciled with President Uhuru Kenyatta, and they embarked together on a Building Bridges Initiative. He became effectively the Deputy President to Kenyatta, though William Ruto remained the official Vice President.

There was an understanding that Kenyatta would support Raila for the Presidency at the next elections. By all accounts, he did.

Raila still lost in 2022, and William Ruto became President.

In what would become a Last Hurrah on the international scene, Raila was nominated by Kenya to contest for the Chairmanship of the African Union in February 2024. It seemed a well-deserved honour for a long-suffering stormy petrel with impeccable pan-Africanist credentials, who wanted to leave a legacy of Continental Free Trade, effective management of intra-African conflicts, and enhancement of the continent’s impact on the global stage. His opponent was a little-known man from Djibouti.

Raila lost the election.

There was speculation, before his death, that Raila, at 80 years of age, might be coming back into the fray in Nairobi as 2027 and the next Presidential elections loomed. The prospect probably filled President Ruto and his handlers with not a little trepidation, especially considering the turbulent spell of mass discontent that Kenya has been going through lately.

What did Raila Odinga stand for?

It is difficult to apply a formal ideological label to him. He was not an old-school ‘Socialist’ like his father Oginga. Perhaps the description ‘Populist Socialist with traditional values’ – an oxymoron of sorts, would best capture his essence.

Did Oginga Odinga truly lay a curse on his son? Or was that another of the popular myths around this ‘People’s President’?

May the soul of the doughty old warrior from Kisumu rest in peace, and may there be peace and progress in the land he loved and fought all his life to lead.