By Anderson Ojwang
At Kango ka Jaramogi, at the graveside of Raila Amolo Odinga, opposition leader George Wajackoyah, appearing to be possessed by spirits, opened the lid over the preferred new leader to inherit Raila’s mantle.
Crying and calling Winnie’s name and asking where she probably could be, he circled the grave chanting that Raila’s spirit had descended on his last-born daughter, Winnie.
“Let me sound this warning. I am sounding it openly. Whoever is trying to play his foul mouth on Min Piny’s daughter Winnie Odinga — and I spoke with her yesterday — try me.
Baba’s spirit is here. If you are running your mouth on Winnie, try me. Winnie, where are you? I will support you. Anybody who dares Winnie, that is a direct attack on me.
Baba is not dead, the spirit is with Winnie. As the elder brother from Mumias, I will defend Winnie,” he mourned.
Mama Ida Odinga, speaking to the team, confirmed that what Wajackoyah had said was the true position.
“You know Wajackoyah is a very open person. He says things as they are. He doesn’t know how to sugarcoat his words and make them flowery.
If it is bad, it is bad, and if it is right, it is right, and he will say it as it is. This trait of his he started much earlier, way back in 1991, when he got into problems with the system because he revealed some secrets which were not supposed to be revealed.
That was the secret of Dr. Robert Ouko’s death, which was not supposed to be revealed.
The harassment was something you had not seen in your life or in the near future. But somehow, he was smuggled out, and I remember that time, Mzee Jaramogi had just started Ford party. He was brought there and nobody could go near him. He was hiding in the car.
We were planning for his exit to go into exile. I was sent by Jaramogi to go and identify if the person being hidden in the car was indeed the person he was expecting. I went back and told Jaramogi he was the one, and from there he was sneaked out through a cargo plane,” she said.
When Raila died in India last month, it was Winnie who delivered his Fedora hat and other personal belongings to the mother in a symbolic power transition.
At the burial, Winnie told President William Ruto that she was ready to come back to the country from the East Africa Legislative Assembly, where she currently serves.
Winnie, who is a member of the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA), told mourners that in Bondo, there still lives a lion.
“I have heard people talk badly about Bondo. I want to say here: we have a lion here. I am the lion. Do not be worried.
For President Ruto, I am ready to come back home,” she said as Ruto smiled and consulted with Mama Ida.
Winnie has been the cornerstone of Raila’s political journey after the death of his son Fidel Odinga, and she has been significant in his presidential campaigns.
At the recent ODM 20th anniversary in Mombasa, Winnie readied her troops and embraced Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, in a show of unity and comradeship.
Winnie, who holds Raila’s secrets and cards — having witnessed her dad slip away from her in India while undergoing treatment — recently threw a gauntlet at her uncle, the current party leader Dr. Oburu Odinga, by demanding a National Delegates Conference (NDC).
Winnie said:
“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 the question for me to answer. That is the question for the people of ODM to answer. That is why I am requesting we need to go back to the people and have an NDC to see who the people want to pick to manage that same relationship,” she said.
But tactical Oburu, an old and shrewd politician, did not swallow the bait but offered to use a different path to resolve the emerging contention.
“When my child Winnie said Raila was at the center of the management of the broad-based relationship, somebody should come to help manage the broad-based government. That is my child. I will speak to her and resolve the matter internally as the Odingas.
But the seat you have given me as the party leader of ODM, I will hold it the way Raila did and ran the party.
I have taken the responsibility and do not be scared. I will do all that appertains to the office and what my brother Raila wanted done and accomplished. We will remain in the broad-based government,” he said.
Currently, the battle for kingship has emerged in Nyanza, with Cabinet Secretaries John Mbadi and Opiyo Wandayi expressing interest in it.
