How the Colonial Chief betrayed Odede to detention
By Anderson Ojwang
The history of Kenya’s political struggle for independence witnessed sacrifices from patriots who laid their lives for the country.
Among them was the late Fanuel Walter Odede, fondly nicknamed Rachilo by his peers.
He was an alumnus of the prestigious Maseno School and a veterinary lecturer at Maseno College.
Odede was among the pioneer students of Maseno school and was prominent in the provision of education to Africans during the colonial period.
He attended school in Maseno, moving on to Alliance High School where he qualified to attend Makerere
College. He graduated with a degree in Veterinary Science.
Odede became a major political player and became a cog within the Kenya Africa Union (KAU) and a close
associate of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
He formed the Kenya African Union, along with Joseph Murumbi and Pio Pinto.
After the arrest of Kenyatta and subsequent detention in 1952, where he became among the Kapenguria Six arrested and charged with masterminding the anti-colonial Mau Uprising, a new leader of KAU had to be found.
In the new leadership structure, Odede became the KAU acting chairman while Kenyatta was still in
detention and continued to propagate the ideals of KAU countrywide.
Odede took over the leadership of KAU in an acting capacity but he too was arrested on March 8, 1953,
again on suspicions of sympathizing with the Mau Mau.
KAU was eventually banned on June 8, 1953, eight months into the Emergency. Nairobi lawyer Mr. Patrick Ouya says Odede and the colonial paramount chief Gedion Magak were close friends and the friendship was in public knowledge.
Mr. Ouya a relative of the late Chief Magak says the colonial government had declared a crackdown on KAU officials and members and Odede was on the run to avoid arrest and sought asylum from his friends.
Chief Magak invited Odede to his home and promised him that he could meet some leaders and have a political conversation with them
“But little did Odede know that his friend had tricked him and informed the administrators of his would-be presence in his home. So when Odede arrived and stayed for a few hours a contingent of police officers arrived, surrounded the home, and arrested him,” he says.
Chairman of Luo Council of Elders Mzee Odungi Randa says with the detention of Kenyatta and other
members of KAIU, Odede took over the leadership and crisscrossed the country to promote the ideals
and ideology of the organization.
“Rachilo was a close friend of Kenyatta and a pillar in KAU. That is why he became the acting chairperson of the organization,” he says
But for Odede, his trip to Nyanza, Oyugis was his Waterloo as he was allegedly betrayed by the paramount chief Gedion Magak to the colonial administrator based in Kisii.
The paramount chiefs were collaborators and informers of the colonial administration and through
this, the late Chief Magak allegedly betrayed Odede to the Colonial administrator and he was arrested.
Although protesting his innocence—a view shared by later historians—he was detained. He remained imprisoned at Kwale and Maralal until 1957 and was then held in restriction in Samburu until 1960.
He was highly regarded by British constituents and was considered to be a moderate African leader. He was opposed to violence and hoped for interracial harmony.
