By Anderson Ojwang
When Mama Ida Odinga was retired under what was termed “public interest” by the late former President Daniel Arap Moi’s administration, 38 years later, on Friday, President William Ruto nominated her as Kenya’s UNEP Envoy in a surprise move.
The Friday nomination of Mama Ida by President Ruto, following the demise of Raila Amolo Odinga and the high-octane politics within the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) over the pre-election pact with the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), has left tongues wagging.
Several questions have emerged over whether the appointment was aimed at calming the heated politics within ODM over the pre-election pact between UDA and ODM.
Is the move aimed at taming Winnie Odinga, who has openly differed with her uncle, Dr Oburu Odinga, the current party leader and chief negotiator of the pre-election pact?
Will Mama Ida leave the running of the family business, which she has successfully managed for over four decades, to take on a highly demanding ambassadorial role?
Retirement in the public interest
In the mid-1980s, Kenya, under one-party rule by KANU, moved to retire Ida Odinga under what was termed “in the public interest” from her teaching position at Kenya High School. Her only crime was being the wife of a man who refused to bow to dictatorship.
At the time, Raila Odinga, son of Kenya’s first Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, had been detained without trial for his alleged role in the 1982 coup attempt.
Barely weeks after his arrest, his wife was shown the door by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), her dismissal delivered coldly through an official letter dated September 12. The letter instructed her to vacate the school premises immediately and surrender all property belonging to the institution.
By the time of her retirement, Ida Odinga had served diligently as a teacher for 15 years but did not despair in the face of the new challenge brought to her doorstep by the Moi administration.
“I had lost a husband, a job, and a home. What should one do? They will chase me away, and I will have no home,” she told reporters as her household goods were loaded onto two lorries.
At the time of her retirement, Ida Odinga did not receive any warning or explanation—only a curt message that she would receive her final dues after handing over her clearance form.
The nomination
On Friday, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei issued a communiqué stating that the President had formally transmitted the nomination of Mama Ida Odinga to the National Assembly for consideration and approval, in line with constitutional requirements governing appointments to the Foreign Service.
He described Mama Ida as a distinguished educationist, civic leader, and advocate for social justice and gender equity.
Koskei noted in the communiqué that she began her career as a graduate teacher at Highway Secondary School in Nairobi before later teaching at Kenya High School, where she spent more than a decade in the classroom.
The communiqué further notes that Mama Ida’s life’s work has been marked by a commitment to advancing women’s education and empowerment, standing against authoritarianism and injustice, promoting freedom of expression, and championing gender equity.
“In the early 1990s, amid the national clamour to transition from a single-party state to a multiparty democracy, she played a key role in advancing calls for change and democratic reform as the founding chairperson of the League of Kenya Women Voters.
“Since then, she has consistently championed initiatives that improve the lives of women, children, youth, and vulnerable communities.”
Her appointment to this role, subject to the requisite parliamentary approval, is expected to amplify Kenya’s voice on environmental issues and further reinforce the country’s longstanding leadership in environmental diplomacy, as well as its pivotal role as host of the UN’s principal environmental authority.
Politics of the Odingas
During ODM’s 20th anniversary, Winnie Odinga demanded an NDC to appoint a new team to manage the broad-based arrangement between ODM and UDA.
“There is something I wanted to tell you. When it came to the matter of the broad-based government, the people of ODM entrusted one person with the management of that relationship. That person was Baba Raila Amolo Odinga.
“That relationship is complicated, and therefore we are looking and wondering: those who are taking it upon themselves to manage it now, are they capable of managing that relationship?
“I don’t think that is a question for me to answer. That is a question for the people of ODM to answer. That is why I am requesting the party leadership that we go back to the people and have an NDC to see who the people want to pick to manage that same relationship,” she said.
However, Oburu Odinga, in his response, said he was the architect of the broad-based arrangement and chaired meetings between Raila and Ruto.
“Those who are saying that Oburu is not validly elected, I challenge them. If they say it is NDC, let us go to the NDC, and I will call it very soon.
“Those who are saying Oburu does not talk are talking nonsense. In this broad-based arrangement, I want to assure those who are saying that it was only Raila who could handle it and that Oburu does not know anything about it.
“I want to tell them that in all meetings of the broad-based arrangement with Ruto, the chairman was Oburu Odinga before you here today,” he said.
Will the nomination of Ida Odinga thaw the bubbling politics in ODM and pave the way for the pre-election pact?
