Remembering Raila Odinga: "Kenya should go beyond tears and tributes"

As Kenyans mourn Baba Raila Odinga, the father of modern democracy and the voice that refused to be silenced, we must go beyond tears and tributes. The truest honour we can give him is not in speeches, posters, or state ceremonies, it’s in completing the unfinished work he began for the common mwananchi.

Raila spent his entire life fighting for justice, equity, and dignity, not just for himself, but for the ordinary Kenyan trying to make a living. He spoke of a Kenya where no one would go hungry while others looted billions, a Kenya where opportunity was not inherited by the connected but earned through sweat and skill.

Yet today, as the nation pays tribute, we must admit, that, much of what he fought for remains painfully incomplete.

To start with, Baba envisioned a Kenya where the economy worked for all, not just the elite. He championed devolution as a tool to take development closer to the people, to give counties the power and resources to fix local problems. But what have we done with it?

County governments have become smaller versions of the same old problem, corruption, nepotism, and wastage. The youth Raila always spoke for are still jobless, the mama mboga he defended is still overtaxed, and the boda boda rider is still hustling under constant harassment. The economy is still rigged in favour of the few, while the many fight to survive.

Raila warned us that corruption would destroy Kenya, and he was right. He stood on podiums, sometimes waved documents, named names, and demanded accountability. But the same scandals keep rotating, the same faces keep reappearing, and the same offices keep bleeding dry.

If we truly want to honour him, we must make corruption a national shame, not a clever career path. Let every Kenyan refuse to normalize theft in office, bribery in recruitment, or favouritism in service. Baba’s legacy cannot coexist with corruption.

Then there is the Unfinished Struggle for Fair Elections. No one fought harder for transparent elections than Raila Odinga. He carried the burden of stolen hopes and contested results, yet he never abandoned the ballot. He believed in the power of the vote even when it failed him.

To honour him, we must fix our electoral systems, not just for politicians, but for the people. We need an IEBC that is truly independent, a process that inspires confidence, and a political class that stops treating elections like a do-or-die war.

To add on, Raila taught us that Kenya is bigger than tribe, bigger than any one leader. His handshake with Presidents' Mwai Kibaki,  President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018 and President William Ruto was not weakness, it was wisdom. It was his way of telling us that peace is a duty, not a favour.

Yet we remain deeply divided, politically, economically, and ethnically. We must now carry his message forward: that no Kenyan should be hated or excluded for where they were born or who they support politically.

Above all, Raila Odinga believed in heshima kwa mwananchi, respect for the ordinary Kenyan. From Kibera to Kisumu, from Mathare to Marsabit, he carried the voice of the voiceless. He wanted a Kenya where every child could dream freely, every worker could earn fairly, and every life could matter equally.

That dream must not die with him. It must live in how we treat each other, how we hold leaders accountable, and how we refuse to give up on a better Kenya.

Because the best way to honour Raila Amollo Odinga is not through a statue or a public holiday, but through the Kenya he dreamed of: fair, free, and just.

The struggle was his life. The victory must be ours.

By Sebastian Karani Asava