RAILA ODINGA’S SECRET WEAPON

It is no secret that the Luo have always been led by leaders with magical powers. Right through the days of heroes like Luanda Magere. In fact Wikipedia the online encyclopedia says of the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.

His (Oginga Odinga) efforts earned him admiration and recognition among the Luo, who revered him as Ker (spiritual leader) a position previously held by the fabled ancestral Luo chief, Ramogi Ajwang, who reigned 400 years before him. Vowing to uphold the ideals of Ramogi Ajwang, Odinga became known as Jaramogi (meaning son of Ramogi).

During Oginga Odinga’s long years away from politicis, the Luo believe that he was protected and kept alive only by his magical powers. One particular incident during the Moi era stands out. Wary of Jaramogi’s increasing political activities at the time in backing opposition to Moi’s government by insisting on the repel of the famous section2 (a) of the constitution which made Kenya a dejure one party state, government agents embarked on a mission to plant guns  on Odinga’s farm in Nyanza. the idea was for the guns to be later “is discovered” and used “evidence” that Oginga was planning an armed rebellion against the “democratically elected government of Kenya.” The mission was done in the dead of the night but the Luo believe that Oginga Odinga’s magical powers enabled him “to see” what was being planned. he is said to have woken up and confronted the government agents by simply asking them what they thought they were doing on his shamba.  

These magical powers, it is widely believed, were passed on to Jaramogi’s son, Raila Odinga. Indeed this belief spread to many other communities countrywide who voted for Raila in 2007. In late 2007 I meta Giriama man in Mombasa when when I was doing one of my many political surveys on the ground. He told me that he would vote for Odinga because he admired his magical powers which are the only thing that had kept him alive and

enabled him to escape him to escape assassination when it was clear that he would win the presidency from Mwai Kibaki.

The controversial truth is that to this day many of our Luo brothers believe that it is impossible for Raila to be felled in politics  because of the magical powers  he possesses. It is the Raila secret that so many people brush off as being insignificant. But it isn’t of no significance as Kenyans will soon find out.