By Anderson Ojwang
The self-declared leader of Mt Kenya, the impeached Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, failed the mountain in honouring the departed Raila Odinga at his burial in Bondo.
Gachagua failed to attend the Thursday prayer service at Nyayo National Stadium and today failed to attend his burial, while his colleagues in the united opposition, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka and Martha Karua, attended the burial of their coalition partner.
Gachagua, the party leader of DCP, a hardened critic of Raila, did not attend the funeral, which was attended by President William Ruto and immediate former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Raila’s father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, is reputed for declining to lead the country into independence before the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was released from prison.
Odinga told the British colonialists that without Kenyatta, there was no independence, and he was subsequently released and became the Prime Minister and led Kenya into independence.
In the 2002 presidential election, Raila single-handedly delivered the presidency to Mwai Kibaki on a wheelchair, and his famous quote “Kibaki Tosha” changed the political dynamics of the country.
Gachagua wrote his tribute on his X handle three days ago, saying **“Baba Raila Odinga, may you rest well. To the family, your spouse Mama Ida Odinga and your children, my family and I join you in prayer during this difficult moment.
My deepest sympathies to you and people of the Republic of Kenya.
The enigma Baba, the father of our democracy and a formidable hero of Kenya’s 2nd liberation, you stood tall and strong in intellect, knowledge and quest for democracy.
You faced brutal regimes’ brutality, you were tortured, jailed, abducted and detained severally for Kenya.
When the history of Africa’s Pan-Africanism is written, your chapter as the indefatigable lion of Africa will attract many readers.
You dedicated your life in the service of humanity: as a political activist, a civil servant, a university lecturer, an MP, a party leader, a cabinet minister, a prime minister and many other fronts. On all these, your trail of success and impact remains indelible.
Kenyans will not only remember your craft in resilience, persistence and democratic values days on but also your voice during difficult moments.
It will be remembered that you were at the forefront in the fight for Kenya’s democracy and liberation of Kenya on many firsts. Most profoundly, Kenya’s multiparty democracy and the Constitution of Kenya 2010, a race you strongly stood in for and we the people of Kenya shall never forget.
Much as we have never been on the same political side, I have had a strong admiration of Raila Odinga’s art of forming and sustaining a strong political party that survived four general elections. I remain amazed by his choice of quality legislators to fly the party flag and eloquently articulate party policies and the people they represented.
You are a hero celebrated home and away; you have not gone Raila Odinga, you have just faded away.”**
Raila, before his demise, had rejected an overture by Gachagua that he joins them so that they could make him president in 2027.
After his impeachment, Gachagua said that he had been mandated by Mt Kenya people to look for a political formation that would bring power to the people.
“I was looking at it with few strategists from the region; Raila’s numbers are more exciting. Because Raila already has 6.8 million votes. We only beat him with only 200,000 votes. If we agree to support him, we could, I told you, with his 6.8 and our 6 million votes, if you look at his voting pattern, he normally votes between 10.00 am–11.00 am. If we agree to support him, before he votes, he will be the president. That you can take to the bank,” he said in a recent interview.
Raila said then “I want our people to remain quiet so that we can get what we want going forward. Those who are making noise in the opposition told us that they were in the government of shareholders.”
Gachagua, once an ardent supporter of the Kenya Kwanza administration and the second most powerful person in the country, took the last minute to humiliate, castigate and deride opposition leaders and regions that never supported them.
For the two years in office, Gachagua tormented and humiliated those who criticised the Kenya Kwanza administration and was opposed to any form of demonstration in the country.
Gachagua said he had planted spies in State House to report to him whenever Raila went to meet President Ruto and that he would not allow the former ODM leader to form an alliance with the President.
