There’s a haunting irony unfolding across Kenya barely a month after Raila Odinga’s death.
The same voices that vilified him for decades now tremble in his permanent silence, and the panic is just beginning.
And this happened even when he was alive. During corruption scandals or constitutional crises, Kenyans who despised him still needed his voice.
They were like, “Where is Raila? He must speak!” They knew he was the only person that could shake the government with a single press conference.
It was muscle memory, love him or hate him, the nation waited for Agwambo’s word.
Now he’s gone. Forever silent. And the void is suffocating.
People called him every name imaginable. Conman, opportunist, traitor, or tribalist.
For instance, when he forgave Moi, the dictator who imprisoned him for nearly a decade they screamed he is a sellout.
Remember when his 2002 “Kibaki Tosha” declaration won the presidency for Kibaki, who promptly betrayed their power-sharing deal. But still, he was labelled names.
After the 2007 post-election violence that killed 1,000 plus Kenyans, he accepted the Prime Minister to save the nation. People called him power angry, when the nation was clearly burning.
In the 2018 handshake with Uhuru he was labelled a BBI conman. A handshake that was necessary when Kenyan was literally becoming ungovernable after the 2017 elections dispute.
The same happened with the handshake with Ruto when the country was at risk of going into a military rule.
And what’s even funny, people are now admitting that this man might have won all his Presidential elections, but he was rigged out.
This is a man who had the powers to order people to match to Statehouse, and it could have happened. But he never did that. If he wanted, he could.
A man that swore himself as a people president in broad daylight, high treason, but the government never dared to touch him.
What I like about all this is history works slowly, but death accelerates judgment.
Today, even his haters scroll through old clips of Raila’s fiery speeches, his strategic brilliance, his ability to mobilize millions.
They’re beginning to grasp what they lost. His role in the 2010 Constitution’s devolution, the fight for electoral justice, the voice that checked executive excess.
Barely thirty days gone, and vindication rushes in like floodwaters.
Those who mocked him now wonder who will speak truth to power and rally us when democracy bleeds.
And you might think someone will step up to fill the void, until you realize it’s not as easy as you think.
This is a man that dedicated the better part of his life fighting for Kenya. He survived assassination by crossing to Uganda with a boat.
He changed his name four times to disguise people that wanted his head. He disguised from a priest to a Muslim just to escape his assassination.
He was beaten to a pulp while in prison, the reason one of his eyes constantly shed tears.
Anyway,
Popular singer Passenger once said,
“🎵But you only need the light when it’s burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go
Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low
Only hate the road when you’re missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go.”
Bantu MEDIA 