Raila reveals details about his detention in Moi era

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga on Thursday made chilling revelations about his life in prison, underscoring the support of his wife Ida, whom she described as a strong pillar in his life.

Mr Odinga, addressed women under his Azimio la Kina Mama initiative at Catholic University in Nairobi, showered his wife with praise, saying she stood with him in his lowest moment, even being sacked twice in her career and facing eviction from her house.

“You cannot stand if you don’t have somebody strong around you. When spouses change wedding vows, it’s easy to say you shall be together for better and for worse, in poverty, in wealth but when the test comes, very few people pass that test,” he said. 

He described Ms Ida as a strong personality who lived through hell herself.

“For me, you can say I was a troublemaker, but for her she has seen a lot of flak.”

Mr Odinga recalled that during his detention at Manyani prison in Tsavo, he fell sick but was given the wrong medicine.

“I was feeling very bad - a lot of pain in my head. I was being detained in Manyani, Tsavo. I kept telling the security officers that I was sick but they felt I was pretending,” he said.

“I decided to (stage) a hunger strike. The security officers came and read the riot act to me that if I didn’t want to eat they would force me to eat through my nose.” 

He recalled that at the time, he had been reduced to “an animal” and told off the officers.

“I told them to go to hell. I had already been reduced to an animal here, so I’m not going to take this lying down. I won’t accept to be intimidated in this conditions.”

He disclosed that he was put in a solitary confinement block, compelling him at one point to shout at the top of his lungs for other prisoners to hear him, with the hope of getting assistance.

“They then decided to move me from Manyani and brought me back to Kamiti. I managed to get toilet paper and wrote a letter to Mama Ida and gave it to a friendly askari, who agreed to smuggle it to Ida,” he said.

“Ida went and talked to a doctor, who prescribed some medicine, which she bought and gave to the askari, who smuggled it to me in the cells.”

He said Ms Ida had indicated the prescription on the paper but he could not read it as every time he made an attempt, his head would ache severely.

“I kept it under the blanket and forgot about it. One day when they came to do a search, I had two blankets, one spread on the floor and another for covering myself. They found the letter, which was not stamped as it was supposed to happen under prison laws,” he said. 

“It had not passed through the prison system and they were alarmed and started investigations, going for Ida.”

Security supervisors at the prison took the notes to be examined by an expert, who found out they were in Ms Ida’s handwriting. She was then arrested and locked up.

“She was tortured to reveal how she managed to smuggle the letter to me. That’s her story, but I must tell you she also went through a lot of hell.” 

He recalled that he was later released from prison and was free again for six months before he was rearrested and taken to the Nyayo House torture chambers that were newly built.

“At Nyayo, I was put in a room filled with water. I had very long nights for more than a week before Ida took a lawyer and went to court demanding that I be produced in court,” he said.

“They quickly served me with a detention order and I was taken to Kamiti and then to Naivasha.”

He said this was the time Ms Ida received her sacking letter from the Ministry of Education and ordered to vacate a house at Kenya High School, where she had been teaching and residing with her children.

“She was given a few hours to clear from the school. Now, our other house had been rented … and she had nowhere to go and it was raining on her with children in the night,” he said.

“Later on, again they would come to arrest her because they thought there was communication between us.”

The ODM leader recalled that he would be released from prison only to be arrested for the third time along with Charles Rubia and Kenneth Matiba when they planned their Saba Saba meetings in Nairobi.

“I went in for a third time and was later released. When we tried to organise another meeting, I was told they would now come to finish me and I escaped and went into exile.”

Mr Odinga also disclosed that Ms Ida would be arrested again after she joined mothers of prisoners who had camped at Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park, Nairobi.

“She went to All Saints Cathedral, where the mothers of the prisoners at that time spent their night and then left. The following day the Nation ran a … story - The plot thickens: Ida Odinga with mothers of prisoners - and by midday on that day, she got another sacking letter.”

At the time, he said, Ms Ida was working at the Ministry of Education headquarters, where she was deployed after protests arising from her first sacking as a high school teacher.

“She has been a very strong pillar in support of me. Without her, I would not have made it, thank you, darling,’ Mr Odinga told his wife, to applause from women leaders.

He promised that if he becomes President his government will support single mothers.

“They look after children alone but are mistreated in the society. We must change this attitude and find a way of helping single mothers,” he said.

He said his administration will help single mothers and young people and put in place a social protection fund to cushion poor families.

The function was attended by Ms Ida, daughters Rosemary and Winnie, Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu, CAS Rachel Shebesh, Betty Tett and a host of women leaders from across the country.