Nairobi's political father finally bows out

After making the city his political stomping ground for four and a half decades, Nairobi has finally bid farewell to probably one of its most illustrious career politicians, Raila Amolo Odinga.

Raila, the former long-serving MP for Kibera and later Lang'ata Constituency, will be missed by thousands of supporters who adored him for his bravery in leading demonstrations and protests to fight for their rights.

As leader of the opposition, he was loved by the hoi polloi who enjoyed keeping him company during his frequent visits to the slums, but loathed in equal measure by those in power until he softened his approach to politics in recent years.

Nairobi is the city that made him the towering politician he was both locally and internationally, but in return, he also built many political careers that have emerged in Nairobi over the years.

City residents sat on edge after every presidential election, apart from 2003 when he supported Mwai Kibaki, because he always refused to concede defeat after losing, thus fuelling ugly confrontations.

From the streets of Nairobi, Raila led in the fight for democracy to help the country change from a single-party dictatorship to a multiparty democracy in 1991 and also in the enacting of a new constitution at Uhuru Park in 2010.

On the day the constitution was promulgated, Raila was the only politician who led Nairobi residents in overnight celebrations of fireworks and fanfare at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi.

July 7, 1990, was a day of political drama in Nairobi and indeed the whole country. Raila was among key leaders who organized the Saba Saba protests on that memorable day to fight for the return of multi-party democracy.

Raila first ran for president in 1997. In his five unsuccessful attempts, he made Nairobi an opposition zone that repeatedly voted against successive governments. It was during those high-profile campaigns that he built a large support base in the slums of Kibera, Kangemi, Kawangware, Mathare, Mukuru and other parts of Eastlands.

After coming third in the 1997 polls, Raila’s National Development Party (NDP) abandoned the opposition and switched support to President Daniel arap Moi’s ruling Kanu party, thus bringing some semblance of calm in Nairobi politics.

Violent protests, however, returned to the city before the next General Election after he protested over unbroken promises from Kanu. He formed the Liberal Democratic Party with other government renegades like Prof George Saitoti, Moody Awori and Joseph Kamotho.

After teaming up with President Mwai Kibaki in 2003 and helping him remove the independence party Kanu from power, Raila was appointed Minister for Roads, where he spearheaded another transformational chapter for the city.

First, he led the high-profile recovery of bypass road lands that had been grabbed by powerful people. Images of bulldozers bringing down maisonette houses and bungalows in Kitisuru remained in people’s minds for a long time.

Out of that, he made many enemies in the city, most of them powerful people who mobilized to campaign against him every time he contested for president.

His timely intervention is, however, today acclaimed by many city residents after the bypasses were constructed by President Kibaki’s government to decongest traffic in the city.

In 2005, as the Minister for Roads and Public Works, Raila conceived, planned and implemented masterpiece infrastructure such as the Thika Superhighway and the Mbagathi Way concrete road, which, according to Nairobi County Assembly members, has since proved to be the most durable road ever constructed in Kenya.

In 2018, Raila brought Nairobi to a standstill when he convened a swearing-in ceremony as the “People’s President” at Uhuru Park after he claimed elections were rigged in favour of President Uhuru Kenyatta. More than ten thousand people witnessed the rival swearing-in ceremony.

It culminated later in a truce between President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party and Raila’s ODM, which gave birth to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), also called the handshake between the two leaders.

In 2024, after the deadly Gen Z protests that again paralyzed business in Nairobi and threatened to remove President Ruto from power, Raila led his ODM party into another handshake with the President’s Kenya Kwanza government.

The entire 2023 will not be quickly forgotten by Nairobians because a lot of protestors were either shot dead or maimed by police gunfire and tear gas. Many innocent people, including young children, were also accidentally caught in the crossfire.

Many businesses were destroyed by the rowdy youth, who also went on a looting spree both in the city centre and in the estates because of Raila’s protests against President Ruto’s narrow victory of 200,000 votes in the 2022 elections.

“This is an illegitimate government which has failed to tackle the high cost of living,” he said, as his motorcades drove through Nairobi's residential suburbs to rally his supporters in weekly protests against the government.

It remains to be seen if his death will bring an end to business disruptions, running battles and deadly fights that could not be ruled out by the unpredictable politician even after his handshakes.

Some of the key moments Nairobians will remember are his two homecoming meetings after his sabbatical leave in the United States, the last one coming in 2014.

“My trip to the US was a sabbatical, a very rare opportunity to reflect and learn from other people’s experiences. I rested fully, and I am now feeling re-energised. I am happy to be back home,” he said after one of his supporters recited the “Baba While You Were Away” report at the Uhuru Park rally.

In May 2016, after returning from the US, Raila organized protests against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) that caused chaos in Nairobi. Officials in the electoral body may also heave a sigh of relief.

While serving as the MP for Kibera, Raila tried to empower the Nubian community that had complained of marginalization for many years. He also championed the construction of Raila Estate high-rise houses for Kibera slum residents.

He hit out at those who criticised him for not initiating development projects in Kibera in the 20 years he represented the constituency, saying he did the most for the constituency during his time.

The former Kibra MP said that for most of the two decades he served as area MP, he was in the opposition, but he still did a lot for the slum dwellers: “I brought toilets and water to Kibra during my time.”

An ardent political activist, he was arrested many times during the Kanu administration for fighting against the one-party rule, creating a lot of mayhem and violent demonstrations by University of Nairobi students and civil rights groups in the city who demanded his release.

His narrow loss to Mwai Kibaki in the disputed 2007 election triggered unrest that killed about 1,300 people and displaced hundreds of thousands around the country.

Nairobi was also rocked by deadly protests before he became Prime Minister in 2008 in a national unity government headed by Kibaki as part of a deal to end the bloodshed and return order to the city.