President William Ruto (left) makes his remarks after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between ODM and UDA at the Kenyatta International Convention Center in Nairobi on March 07, 2025.
Watching Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga dribbling his latest dalliance with the Kenya Kwanza government reminded me, strangely, of water. Water has bizarre qualities and is complicated and probably the most alien substance in our environment. Yet it does so much good; actually it appears specifically engineered to ensure the existence and survival of life.
The first of these peculiarities is the so-called polarity of the water molecule, which you might remember from high school. The water molecule is made up of two other little buggers — hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen side is positively charged, the oxygen side negative, allowing water molecules to clump to each other as well as other substances. This gives rise to two other qualities — cohesion, clumping together to form water droplets —and adhesion: sticking to other things and therefore enabling such things as capillarity in plants.
Water does not feel heat easily— high specific heat capacity — it absorbs a lot of heat before its own temperature changes. That way, it regulates and stabilises temperature in the environment, making processes such as your metabolism possible.
It is PH neutral, it vaporises at relatively high temperatures, it expands when it freezes and is therefore lighter in solid form (ice) than liquid (it is most dense at 4 degrees), it can dissolve almost anything and it has high surface tension (because of cohesive forces between its molecules) enabling miracle workers such as Jesus to walk on it. Water is tailor-engineered to ensure life on earth. Why are we looking out into space for a sign of a superior, alien intelligence?
Struggle for democracy and human rights
Mr Odinga goes by many names in Kenyan politics, but since 1992 he became the perennial ingredient of every deal, every important development, every breakthrough, every important moment. He was there, on the winning side, when Kanu fell. He was there, on the winning side, when Kenya wrote a new constitution. At all the moments of national triumph, Mr Odinga is on the stage, celebrating with the people.
In him, the suffering people of Kenya found a voice in their struggle for democracy and human rights. His suffering in the streets and in prison paid for the open, democratic society that is now in retreat under the stewardship of President William Ruto. I want to believe that Mr Odinga’s presence at our moments of overcoming was part of the causation, not mere co-variation.
He was there at the founding and driving of Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (Ford), which fought for the re-establishment of multi-party democracy. He was there in the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc), and the 2002 triumph, which ended Kanu’s 39-year rule. After the violence of 2007 and subsequent mediation and establishment of a Government of National Unity, he served as Prime Minister. And on August 27, 2010 when the country promulgated a new constitution, Mr Odinga was on stage celebrating with a jubilant nation.
Now he has done a deal — between ODM and Kenya Kwanza — which he says is intended to save the country, but whose nature, structure and expected outcome are as mysterious as the depths of space. Back in 1998, National Democratic Party (NDP) members knew their party’s arrangement with Kanu was a merger. ODM members knew the deal between Mr Odinga and former President Uhuru Kenyatta was a handshake arrangement in which Mr Odinga did not contribute ministers to government.
Protecting the offending government
In 1998, it was clear what NDP wanted out of the merger. Its national treasurer, Peter Odoyo, in an interview with VOA, was quite clear and ambitious in expressing the party’s expectations: “I think the terms and conditions will determine our level of happiness. Raila obviously is a leader who is young and has got opportunities and with the kind of changes that are coming up he will be a key and a major player. We would like to see him as the head of this country when Moi retires obviously.”
In this recent case, Mr Odinga vociferously denies being in coalition with Kenya Kwanza, he says he has merely donated experts to the government to save the country. He also explains that it is wrong to say he has joined the President or his government, it is the President who went to him, he says, and asked for help to rescue the country. So we don’t know what this thing is and we don’t know what is expected to come out of it. Yet.
Mr Odinga’s play is like those alien characteristics of water: democratic and human rights crusader, making common cause with a government that is quite repressive and under whose watch people are disappearing; supporting and protecting the offending government while at the same time protesting the rights and freedoms of the victims.
It is a complex political play — liquid, gaseous and solid state all at the same time. This is bad medicine, I fear.
