NEWS GANG: First word - Raila: Denied in life, accepted in death

SAM: A week later, so much has changed in the national psyche of Kenyans. We have in those short days deteriorated to name calling, hate, claims of superiority and indeed, emerging competition on who best understands Raila Odinga’s legacy and his dying wishes. Those in ODM, Raila’s party for 20 years, cannot agree on what exactly Odinga wanted or said about the future of the party. Each politician believes they heard or understood Raila better than the other.

JAMILA: But perhaps, Raila’s legacy is more about what he attained than what he said. We say this because; words spoken if not recorded accurately can always be distorted. How about taking stock of Raila’s legacy and possibly use it to define how the country moves on from here.We begin by appreciating what Raila Odinga went through, eventually becoming the first Kenyan statesman to be conferred the title Chief of the Golden Heart of Kenya in death.

LINUS: Raila Odinga suffered under the one party state  of President Daniel Moi, detained for a total of nearly nine years without trial, mostly on suspicion of committing public order offences  that were never verified. His endurance saw him detained across three episodes, the last one being for simply pushing for multiparty democracy. Today Kenya is a multiparty democracy and has been for the last 34 years.

JOSEPH: Through his suffering, especially for being held for prolonged periods without trial, we now have a constitution that illegalizes such treatment. Article 49 specifically outlines the rights of an arrested person. No Kenyan should be held in police cells for longer than 24 hours without being presented before a court of law.

During Odinga’s suffering many Kenyans were eliminated, maimed, disappeared and many survived with lifelong disabilities. He lived to tell the story and fought for a better Kenya. Today, even though Kenyan state authorities continue to propagate the same crimes, Raila did his part including pushing for compensation for victims of police brutality.

YVONNE: In politics, Raila believed in fair elections. Even though a victim in several elections that he contested and was denied his victory, his resilience gave us a better Kenya. His repeated election petitions in presidential elections in 2013, 2017 and 2022 tested our judicial system. And even though it may seem as if we are losing the independence of the judiciary, Raila gave us a more transparent electoral process. The nullification of the 2017 presidential election made the presidential election results transmission more transparent and procedural. And on that front, one of his last gifts was the inclusion of different stakeholders in the picking of IEBC commissioners.

SAM: The other gift that Raila left us is devolution. For so long, development was was a preserve of those favoured by  the government. The love being measured on political loyalty, usually of elected leaders and by way of presidential votes. Many words for ethnic considerations. Today, the country is organized in 47 devolved units called counties, each led by a local government, elected by the people, and resources allocated based on a formula agreed upon by the people’s representative in consult with the people themselves.

JAMILA: Even though the presidential system continues to dangle the carrot for political loyalty, those are just bad manners that Odinga and his generation of patriots sought to defeat. And so in sum, Raila Odinga fought for us, suffered for us, cried for us, so that we can have a more just country. At a time many wonder what next after Tinga, there should be no more tears especially the fake ones. The answer is in the Constititution, it defines the path, in black and white. To those in positions of authority, implement the constitution to the letter, follow it, honour it. Respecting the constitution is to honor the legacy of Raila Odinga. 

AND this is our joint first word.