Macharia Gaitho
14 July 2006
book review
Nairobi — The Raila Odinga biography that was due to be launched in Nairobi last evening is a welcome addition to the rare collection of political biographies in Kenya. In Raila Odinga, An Enigma in Kenyan Politics, Nigerian lawyer and political scientist Dr Babafemi Badejo offers a sympathetic portrait of one of Kenya's most controversial politicians.
The book is not just the story of Mr Odinga, but a study of the evolution of Kenya politics over the last 25 or so years. As close to an authorised biography as can be, is it evident that the author had free access to a number of sources, including Mr Odinga himself, as well as large number of people who have been close to the subject over the years. Key sources included his wife and confidant Ida Odinga, and close political collaborator and business associate Israel Agina.
A key, but posthumous source was Mr Odinga's father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, through constant references to his 1960s opus, Not Yet Uhuru.
The extensive series of interviews and prodigious research from both published and unpublished material brings out a detailed contemporary political history of Kenya with the focus on Raila Odinga's role in shaping some very dramatic events.
Stint in detention
We get to learn about the 1982 coup attempt and Mr Odinga's first stint in detention, events that drove the multi-party campaign, more stints in detention and flight into exile, formation of the original Ford and successful conclusion of the democratic struggle with the 1992 elections.
We also move to subsequent political developments, including Mr Odinga moving out of Ford Kenya to take over the National Development Party, the merger with President Moi's Kanu and the break-up that led Mr Odinga and former key Moi allies into supporting Mr Mwai Kibaki's presidential campaign in 2002. And, finally, formation of the Narc government and the immediate fissures that led to a rupture with President Kibaki.
In terms of the wealth of detail on key political happenings during that period, the book makes for a fascinating read.
Yet it has a weakness in that despite the rich variety of sources, the book comes like a dry chronicle, rather than an engaging and sensitive portrait.
One gets the feeling that a quite a lot is being held back although the author secured full cooperation from his subject.
In the section on the failed 1982 coup, for instance, the author indicates that in being interviewed for the book, Mr Odinga "neither admitted nor confirmed a role in the planning of the coup. Thus, the public will have to wait for Raila's autobiography for a final word on his role."
Published accounts
Reading the account, however, one cannot help but feel that the author did indeed manage to get information that could only have come from his subject.
The footnotes list published accounts from newspaper and magazines, Mr James Waore Dianga's book, Kenya 1982: The Attempted Coup - the consequences of one-party dictatorship, as well as a series of interviews with close Odinga associate Patrick Onyango Sumba.
But it also provides, without attribution, a wealth of detail that could confirm Mr Odinga was indeed central to the planning of the coup plot, provided a house meant to be used as a communications centre and was in constant touch with the leaders of the ill-fated putsch as it unfolded on the fateful day.
The details might be taken as the first time Mr Odinga has openly conceded that he had a role in the failed coup.
And that is one area where this book breaks new ground.
Disappointing, however is the paucity of information on events leading to Mr Odinga's second stint in detention.
After the coup attempt, Mr Odinga was initially charged with treason, which carries the mandatory death penalty, and then detained without trial until February 1988. After a mere six months of freedom, Mr Raila Odinga was picked up and detained again for 10 months until June 1989.
The book provides Mr Odinga's harrowing account of the Special Branch torture prevalent in those days.
It also provides, mostly from newspaper reports and interviews, the story of President Moi's pre and post-coup crackdowns against dissident academics and other non-conformists beginning with the detentions of 1982 and the infamous Mwakenya trials of the mid to late 1980s.
It provides an account of Mr Odinga's role in 1982 in planning, alongside his father and Mr George Anyona, an opposition political party.
But come the Mwakenya years, and the book is silent on what role Odinga might have played in the local and foreign-based dissident movements that provoked such savage retribution. This silence is strange considering that Mr Odinga was not just one of the victims - his second stint in detention - but that he has been widely mentioned as having been involved in the underground activities then.
Another weakness in the book is that in recounting some of the key political events of the period, it relies a bit too much on accounts of people very close and loyal to Mr Odinga, the kind of people who might be willing to either embellish his role or minimise the role of rivals.
Yet it is not as if alternate accounts were not available. It is only at the end of the book that the author includes stand-alone comments from a large number of people who have interacted with Raila over the years. These include not just his wife, son, daughters, sister and brother, and the faithful such as Israel Agina and MP Otieno Kajwang', but also critical or cautious voices such as MP Paul Muite, and former MPs Dalmas Otieno, Joe Donde and Farah Maalim.
It is the disparate voices at the end, in fact, which help bring out a more rounded picture of a brilliant but enigmatic politician, a character everyone agrees radiates a rare energy and drive, supreme organisational skills and the capacity to seize the moment; but also one who attracts adulation and loathing in equal measure.
What is not in doubt is that Raila Odinga is one of the central figures in the modern political history of Kenya, and his role is still developing. More than just Jaramogi's son, Mr Odinga inherited his fathers mantle but went on to become a much more pivotal player than his father had ever been.
Reading through the book, however sympathetic a picture it presents, one is left feeling that the jury is still out on whether Mr Odinga is a nationalist or a tribal chieftain, a democrat or a dictator, a dangerous demagogue or a thoughtful idealist, a selfless team player or a selfish schemer.
What comes out is that love him or loath him, Mr Odinga simply cannot be ignored. What a pity that figures like President Kibaki and former President Moi (the latter refused to be interviewed) did not give their assessments about the man, but they would both probably have concurred that the younger man has played pivotal moments in their own lives.
The book recounts with quite some detail the thinking and events that led to Mr Odinga merging his NDP with President Moi's Kanu, but instead of being swallowed, walking out with much more than he had brought in.
There is also a hitherto untold account of the events immediately preceding the famous "Kibaki Tosha" declaration at Uhuru Park, which virtually handed Kibaki the presidency, not too long after Mr Odinga had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mr Simeon Nyachae of Ford People.
In between, we see the birth of the Rainbow movement in Kanu, the "purchase" of the LDP and the way Mr Odinga manoeuvred as some of his colleagues, such as Mr Kalonzo Musyoka and Prof George Saitoti dithered.
Gripping portrayal
The book also provides a gripping, and amusing, account of how Mr Odinga fled the country in disguise after his third stint in detention just ahead of the return of multi-partyism. But sadly such gripping and personal accounts are the exception rather than the rule.
The book glosses over important events, avoids others altogether, is largely silent on Mr Odinga's own assessment and measure of his political friends and enemies.
In the end it succeeds mostly in presenting an invaluable, addition to recent Kenyan history, but that does not quite present the complete picture of Raila Odinga. We see the politician and public figure, we do not see the man, his life and his loves, his likes and dislikes, his foibles, his weaknesses. Perhaps the more complete picture might come when Mr Odinga pens his own memoirs.
But whatever the flaws and shortcomings, Dr Badejo has provided us with an invaluable insight into Mr Odinga, what shapes him, and an important period in Kenyan history.
This is especially important in an environment where those who shape Kenyan history are so reluctant to commit their feelings, thoughts and actions to pen and paper.
By consenting to the book, Mr Odinga has made his own valuable contribution that should be emulated by all his peers. Mandatory reading, by my estimation.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2006 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
