Standard Reporter
14 July 2006
book review
Nairobi — One of the greatest things about Raila Odinga's biography is that somebody made him tell his story.
That is not an easy task because he keeps a tight schedule and is always in the middle of something. Experiences like the Nyayo House torture chambers have finally acquired a sense of reality through the book.
It also documents the hurried work that went into assembling the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) just before the 2002 General Election - just in time before the next polls. One hopes that the book will be a useful guide to the public on coalition building, picking up the signs of trouble that were ignored in Narc's creation.
But one criticism that comes out from quick reading is that its approach and organisation is rather academic. It is not a book for the ordinary Kenyan who wants a straight narration of the life and times of Raila Odinga.
Early life missing in pictures
In that context, Raila Odinga: An Enigma in Kenyan Politics fails to match Jaramogi Oginga Odinga's Not Yet Uhuru.
The idea of putting the lion and not Raila's portrait on the cover is also strange for a biography. In fact, Raila's and his family's pictures appear late in the book. And when they do, recent pictures dominate. The early life of Raila, depicted prominently in the book, is missing in pictures that could have been worth more than a thousand words.
Although the book was an attempt to unmask Raila and Kenya, one would have expected an attempt to flush out, for example, some of the people who participated in the criminal activities that went on in the Nyayo House torture chambers. In the book, the torturers remain at large.
Scattered information
Raila's wife, Ida, is caught in the activities of her husband. She holds fort when her man is in detention, but her experiences come as flashes scattered everywhere across the book.
The scattering of information is also evident in the attempt to craft Raila's early life and how the early experiences may have made him what he is today.
A keen academic may be able to piece the information together and decipher what led to what, but a lay reader would have problems.
Overall, the book gives Raila's admirers and haters alike a pin on which to peg the politician. It is interesting that the writer gave both categories of people a chance to have their say on Raila and published the responses without interpreting or editing them.
That is as delicate as it gets when writing about Raila. The book is a beginning in the right direction.
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