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By Makau Mutua
Some Kenyans exhaust me โ utterly. But let me be fair. I exhaust them too. So we are even because we exhaust each other. Even so, I am sick of being sick and tired of them. It upsets me to no end when individuals whoโve never done anything for Kenya โ except steal from the public โ question the patriotic bona fides of those whoโve sacrificed themselves for the country.
I write here not to defend ODMโs Raila Odinga but to give the man from Bondo his due. Since his March 2018 Handshake with Jubileeโs Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr Odinga has faced ruthless public opprobrium by his foes and even some of his comrades. Let me tell you why they should zip it.
In the annals of the Republic of Kenya, not many Kenyans can hold a candle to Mr Odinga as a freedom fighter. I know โ Mr Odinga isnโt perfect. Who is? Mr Odinga has made his own share of political mistakes.
No one of his age whoโs been in the political vineyards as long as he has been, especially in the opposition, can claim to never have taken at least one wrong turn somewhere.
DEMOCRATIC CULTURE
Show me such a person, if they exist, and I will show you a liar. Politics, like everything else, is an experiment. This is true in a rickety post-colonial state like Kenya where you often have to improvise because the country lacks a democratic culture.
In life, itโs only fair you judge people by the full body of their work. You take the full measure of a personโs life and then you put it on a scale. Against this standard, Mr Odinga must be adjudged as one of the most patriotic Kenyans, alive or dead.
I rank him up there at the top of the pyramid with his father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
Detractors say that heโs one of the โdynasties.โ I agree โ but heโs an opposition โdynasty.โ Similarly, those who call themselves โhustlersโ are also right. They are true hustlers โ โfraudstersโ and โdeceivers.โ They want to appropriate the language of revolution, but have no history or track record of opposing the state.
Mr Odinga and his family, including his spouse Ida Odinga, know what it is to face and live the ire of a savage, undemocratic state. For the nearly one decade in which Mr Odinga was under detention for being a liberator, Mrs Odinga held the family together.
Itโs not a secret the persecution and mental anguish that the Moi-Kanu state put her and the family through. Jaramogi, her father-in-law, was himself Mr Moiโs public enemy number one.
The Odinga family lived not knowing whether they would be alive or free from one day to the next. These sacrifices are legend. Yet, and this is remarkable, Iโve found neither Mr Odinga, nor Mrs Odinga, bitter people. I donโt know how.
Much of the current ire and angst against Mr Odinga springs from his Handshake with Mr Kenyatta. The vast majority of those vexed by the Handshake in Jubilee are insiders who thought Mr Kenyatta would hand over the presidency to DP William Ruto on a silver platter.
UNREQUITED ENTITLEMENT
Their hysterics arise out of a sense of unrequited entitlement. Their bitterness is actually anti-democratic because in a democracy, no one is entitled by right to rule.
Itโs the people who choose their leaders, not the other way round. Like Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, who was ousted from the Senate Majority Leader perch, they are seeing red. They now threaten Armageddon. They fail to recognise that the chickens they hatched have come home to roost.
Similarly, some in Mr Odingaโs camp have left with angry conniptions over the Handshake. They canโt reconcile themselves to the changed political landscape. Several have made unsavoury alliances with the devil to spite Mr Odinga. They accuse him of betrayal.
Itโs their right to feel betrayed. Itโs also their democratic right to castigate Mr Odinga for exercising his right to associate with Mr Kenyatta. They claim Mr Odinga has orphaned them and killed the opposition. Thatโs silly. How can one man kill the opposition? If the opposition had only one man, then it wasnโt an opposition at all. Why canโt they step up and take the mantle of the opposition? Mr Odinga canโt be โ and do โ everything.
Mr Odinga says he went into the Handshake with Mr Kenyatta to save the country from collapse after a botched election.
HANDSHAKE
Itโs a fact the country stabilised after the Handshake. We know Mr Kenyatta has taken uneven and fledgling steps against some corrupt mandarins since then. Heโs neutered Mr Ruto, the deputy who thought he was the real power behind Mr Kenyatta.
Heโs decapitated Mr Rutoโs allies right and left. These actions wouldโve been impossible without Mr Odingaโs support. Letโs just say I am not shedding any tears. Mr Odinga is entitled to play out his rapprochement with Mr Kenyatta. Is he being played? Only history will judge him.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School. Heโs Chair of KHRC. @makaumutua.
