NAIROBI, Kenya—Kenyans have witnessed another wave of demonstrations across the country that have resulted in property destruction in Nairobi and parts of the Western counties surrounding the Lakeside city of Kisumu.
The protests, which started on March 20, were called by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is seeking to unseat President William Ruto, who he blames for the high cost of living while also claiming that he stole the 2022 presidential election.
Odinga has now asked his supporters to protest every Monday and Thursday until the government bows to his demands.
“Kenya must be liberated. Dictatorial leadership must be done away with,” Odinga said on March 30. “Even if they bring in one million police officers, Kenya is stronger. Political strength is with the citizens.”
Odinga has led anti-government protests relentlessly since 1982, when he was accused of staging a coup against the late President Daniel Moi’s administration. Odinga would then be charged with treason and detained without trial for six years.
He has been on the back of every government since, keeping each one on their toes and in check.
Odinga’s opposition efforts, seen by many as a necessary evil, have forced former presidents Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta to give him a share of their governments. During Kibaki’s time, Odinga rose to the position of prime minister after the country was plunged into chaos in the post-election violence that saw the East African nation almost torn apart along tribal and political lines.
Kibaki was then an incumbent running for his second and last term in office as Odinga sought to unseat him in an election.
The 2007–2008 post-election violence, which claimed more than 1,000 lives, would later see the current president, William Ruto, and his predecessor, President Uhuru Kenyatta, along with four others, charged with crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court at the Hague, Netherlands.
The charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence.
During the struggle, Ruto was Odinga’s main supporter and is believed to have been the one who pushed him to sit down for talks with Kibaki, resulting in a share of power that was mediated by the former Ghanaian president, Kofi Annan. Odinga became the prime minister, and Kibaki the president.
Ruto blamed Odinga for his tribulations after Odinga sacked him from the Agriculture Ministry when Odinga became prime minister, accusing Ruto of his alleged involvement in a maize scandal that had rocked the country.
In his early days as a political activist, Odinga had brushed shoulders with the high and mighty on several occasions.
In 1992, Odinga was arrested by President Daniel Moi’s regime for staging a demonstration to call for multiparty democracy in the country. His arrest came three days before a July 7 meeting that he and other like-minded political activists had planned in Kamukunji grounds within the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
These arrests, detentions, and the relentless fight for democratic space are what have earned Odinga respect, not only on the continent but in other parts of the world. He is now delivering speeches and public lectures on democracy in Africa, locally and internationally.
Hi critics, however, say that Odinga has gotten it wrong on many occasions and would have clinched the top seat if he had done it differently.
Lecturer and political analyst Michael Ndonye says that protests are not the best way for the five-time unsuccessful presidential candidate.
“If Raila sat back and left Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime to expose its underbelly in 2018, he would have become president of Kenya in 2022,” Ndonye wrote in a March 30 tweet. “If he wants to be president in 2027, he should sit back and let Kenyans judge this regime. But, impatience has cost the old man the top seat and he never learns.”
Odinga was a member of parliament together with his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who was Kenya’s first vice president. The 78-year-old father of four is a former university lecturer who has grown over the years to become a wealthy politician. He has interests in the energy sector and runs an LPG gas company, Spectre East Africa, which was attacked earlier in the week by pro-government protesters who claimed that his followers were ruining their businesses.
Ruto had allowed a Tanzanian company to do business in the country, a move that would surely hurt Odinga’s business.
Former president Kenyatta’s Northlands farm was also attacked. This is because, in the previous regime, Kenyatta had an agreement with Odinga to work together in his government. Kenyatta ran a campaign for Odinga in the 2022 elections, and even after Ruto was declared winner, he said that he only recognized Odinga as his leader.
Odinga has, over the years, been loved and hated in almost equal measure, with his followers calling him “Baba” and Agwambo, meaning “difficult to predict.”
