Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga makes his remarks during the launch of his bid for the African Union Commission Chairmanship candidate at State House, Nairobi on August 27, 2024.
“My heart is ready, my hands are steady and with your support, I shall get the opportunity to be of service to Africa, the cradle of mankind. I am made in Eastern Africa for Africa,” so declared former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in an event on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, when he was unveiled as Kenya’s candidate for the African Union Commission’s top job.
He has been a figure flitting through Kenyan politics, casting a long shadow. All swagger, all charisma and all unflagging energy for decades, he is the stuff of which political legends are made. Loose, bare-knuckled, brash and free like a charging buffalo — ferocious and relentless — Raila has wielded Kenyan politics to searing effect, in the manner of a master-level chess player.
Now, he seems to have mellowed with age. As he took to the podium on Tuesday, 27 August, less foot-sure and a bit slow but wizened, Raila had a lined face, the mark of time and struggle on his body as rain marks a stone; the detritus of spending decades in brutal political trenches.
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He has been at the top of almost winning the Kenyan presidency, then dropped down from these heights, plateaued, and, eventually, feeling the sense of foreboding suspense in the valley as he hit the rock bottom of loss.
Storyteller
His speech for his AU quest was strong and unapologetic. Unlike other times, he didn’t delve into a series of meandering non sequiturs, digressions and pompous rhetoric but was straight to the point.
A master storyteller in oral literature style, known for using football metaphors in Kenyan politics, he couldn’t resist the pull of metaphor.
In his football metaphors, he has proved a clever narrator, weaving theme, plot, characters, setting, conflict, point-of-view, tone and style like a master — presenting unforgettable performances before hundreds of supporters in his political rallies.
In his speech officially launching his bid for the AU Commission’s top seat, he compared himself to the African lion — the king of the jungle — and said that the Asian tiger and the American panther were in retreat.
Raila delivered his speech in a room filled with dignitaries, faces aglow in remarkable luminescence at State House Nairobi, the cosiest of all cosy enclaves. With a deft sweep of an eye, Raila could see Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Samia Suluhu of Tanzania, and Salva Kiir of South Sudan.
Other guests were former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Burundi Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca and Rwanda Minister for Foreign Affairs James Kabarebe and many others. He may have felt confident of a win but then anywhere there is politics and voting, there is always danger even in a safe place.
The knife of electoral loss probably still hangs above his head after he lost the presidency in 2022, a knife that maybe only temporarily sheathed its blade.
As he hurtles towards his full campaigns for the AU Commission’s job, he must be exploring a continent of possibilities but also of risks. A ruffled hero, his political fortunes in Kenya have been like a horror movie, parts of which detached themselves from the screen and clung to his life.
Swearing in
His supporters always dreamt of the day Raila would walk onto a stage to be sworn in as president, the lights in different colours, flashing with the irregular, listing cadence of a heartbeat, the fog machines shooting white plumes of smoke into the air and other machines showering him with confetti before reaching for the Bible to complete his oath of office.
But this was only just a dream. It must be hard knowing that someone else is always taking the presidency instead of him.
One wonders whether the night after the loss of the presidency, he sits alone — a lone figure staring ahead, wondering why things turn the way they do. Across the land at that time, his supporters are probably as inconsolable, some literally in tears. The electoral losses have lasted. And lasted.
Fortunately, Raila is made of sterner stuff — he always picks himself up after every setback. And what has stood out for most people is his optimism all the way through.
He has put on a great tour de force; equal parts brave and heartbreaking; by turns lively and wrenchingly sad. But he has stood firm and refused to be discouraged.
As he campaigns for the AU position, he identifies himself as Pan-Africanist and Afro-optimist. His vision is a “developed, integrated and prosperous continent” and his motto is “ready to serve”.
The slight disappointment for some Kenyans could that the Raila movie in Kenyan politics could have come to an end, and now they have to go back to their lives, which could be a lot less interesting without Raila shaking local politics as usual. For Raila, he embodies the words from the song “Hotel California”:
“You can check out of the Hotel California but you can never leave”. For him, politics is life, he can check out of Kenyan politics but can never leave — he will probably still cast a long shadow even if he retires. We wish him success in his quest to lead Africa as Chair of the AU Commission.
The writer is a book publisher based in Nairobi. [email protected]
