Omamo has the mother’s touch and a soldier’s grit

Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo and Chief of General Staff Samson Mwathethe receive bodies of KDF soldiers killed in an attack by Al-Shabaab in Somalia. She reinvented the phrase “soft power” when receiving soldiers injured or killed. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The former law student at the University of Kent in the UK was among the youngest woman to start a law firm in Kenya, Omamo and Omamo Advocates, when she was in her early 20s.
  • But she burst into the limelight in 1999 when she announced her candidature for the Law Society of Kenya chairperson.
  • She was also the first Kenyan woman delegate to Unesco.

Because generals oversee most military operations, pundits expected Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Awuor Omamo’s job to be ceremonial and largely colourless.

It did not help that she was the first female defence boss and a soft-spoken diplomat in a ministry dominated by men with guns.

And for the first two years, the job lived up to that reputation.

But this week, the Defence Cabinet Secretary reinvented the phrase “soft power” when receiving soldiers injured or killed in the deadly attack on a military base in Somalia.

She moved the world to tears with her motherly embrace of the shell-shocked soldiers.

“She has shown the affection of a mother and the strength of a leader,” noted Natasha Mugure, posting as @bestlady on Twitter.

But not everyone was amused. On Thursday, ODM MPs asked the President to remove her from the post, saying she was not inspiring enough and appeared aloof.

“She should be given lighter duties. She looks more like a nun than a Defence CS,” said Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo.

Few were surprised with the comments. For Ms Omamo’s relationship with ODM and its leader Raila Odinga has always been complicated.

She is the daughter of the late Minister William Odongo Omamo. The bulky and humorous Dr Omamo was a longstanding political rival of Mr Odinga’s father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga despite both coming from Bondo in Siaya constituency.

When Jaramogi was detained by President Jomo Kenyatta in 1969, it is Dr Omamo who replaced him as Bondo MP and was appointed Minister of Natural Resources.

Known as Kaliech (Luo for like an elephant), Dr Omamo was always seen as a counterweight to Jaramogi in Nyanza.

But his critics say he was used by both the Kenyatta and Moi regimes to strike a semblance of national unity in their Cabinets.

He, however, never managed to command the Luo vote as much as the Odingas.

A LEADER
Thus when Jomo’s son Uhuru appointed Dr Omamo’s daughter to the Cabinet after Raila lost the 2013 elections, it was déjà vu for the Odingas.

Heritage aside, she has kept her private life out of the public eye. It is hard to find details of small things like her age.

Even when State House released CVs of Cabinet nominees after Jubilee came to power, her age was not specified.

While her private life is a well-guarded secret, Dr Omamo’s life is littered with many firsts.

The former law student at the University of Kent in the UK was among the youngest woman to start a law firm in Kenya, Omamo and Omamo Advocates, when she was in her early 20s.

But she burst into the limelight in 1999 when she announced her candidature for the Law Society of Kenya chairperson.

She was running against heavyweights like then LSK council members Patrick Lumumba, Githu Muigai (current AG) and Gibson Kamau Kuria.

She was proposed for the job by a fierce lawyer and fierce critic of the Moi government called Martha Karua, Narc Kenya leader.

Dr Omamo won, becoming the first woman chairperson of the LSK. Since then, she has continued her streak of firsts.

After the LSK stint, she became the first woman Ambassador of Kenya to France, Portugal, The Holy See and Republic of Serbia.

She was also the first Kenyan woman delegate to Unesco.

When President Kenyatta picked her for the job in 2013, she said during vetting: “I am not intimidated by generals…I intend to do my job and have a fruitful relationship with them.”

As Kenya increasingly relies on the military to secure its borders, she will need that relationship to hold on to her job.