Raila has betrayed no one in politics.
August 1982. Raila Odinga has been tortured for four days non stop. He is oscillating between conscious. His head is swollen and bleeding.
He cant see properly and stand on his swollen feet. He is away the GSU headquarters. He is also very hungry,having not eaten for for days. Police Commissioner Ben Gethi walks in with a hot succulent roasted goat leg, accompanied by four other cops .
Gethi is drunk and is chewing on the goat leg,as he asks his cops to beat Raila Odinga some more. They land on him with broken furniture and beat him down to unconsciousness.
Your father was not there,yet you think Raila Odinga has betrayed you!
Manyani Prison,God knows which year.
Mosquitoes descend on Raila Odinga, the light in the cell doesn’t go off and attracts even more insects. Daytime temperatures reach 40’s night time temperatures are low . Odinga writes to the authorities saying he doesn’t want to be in Manyani Prison. A doctor prescribes the wrong medicine. Raila Odinga almost dies . By the time another doctor comes,his limbs are just about due for amputation. He survives narrowly.
Kamiti Maximum Prison,God knows which year. Deputy Police Commissioner Philip kilonzo and the Commissioner big Prisons visits Raila, hasn’t eaten for two weeks. They tell him they will force-feed him with a pipe! He looks them in the eye and tells them they small men with small mentality.
They are shocked beyond words. They walked out without another word.
1989 Mama Ida Odinga vhas been tired from her job as a teacher. The Police keep surrounding her home. She gets home one day to find her maid and infant have been arrested. She traces both police to a police cell. She has had to live with police harrassament and humiliation every day since her husband was arrested. She has no friends left. Her children cannot play with other children. The stigma is real.
In 1989. Raila Odinga is escaping through Lake Victoria disguised as a Legio Maria Priest. A kenya Army platoon led by Major Diffu has him on the crosshairs,ready to blow the boat and Raila up. Somehow,the order does not come to execute, so he servives, barely.
When Raila was first arrested at the house of Oki Ooko Ombaka, he was taken alone. When he was beaten,tortured and humiliated, he was alone. From Naivasha, Hola,Shimo la Tewa,Kamiti Maximum Prison,Manyani Prison he was alone. He gave his life for this. We have made strides. We have found out voices. Because he stood up when your entire clans choose cowardice
Raila Odinga has really sacrificed a lot for this country, tortured and humiliated but he has never given up. He has never abandoned the struggle.
