By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
April 3, 2013
Mahatma Gandhi the
legendary freedom fighter never lived to become India’s president or prime
minister. Yet, sixty years later, he is still the most celebrated freedom
fighter worldwide. His passive resistance philosophy still rings a bell in the
ears of new generation freedom fighters.
Gandhi inspired great
heroes of black consciousness such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson
Mandela, Steve Biko and many more great minds such as Mwalimu Julius Nyerere
among others. It was his courage in the face of imminent danger that inspired
us all. He believed in nonviolence and practiced it. He feared no guns and
bombs. His spirit was his greatest weapon. More importantly, he lived a humble,
almost a monk’s life.
For all his struggles,
Martin Luther King Jr. never lived to see the true freedom and equality of the
Blackman in America. He had to die prematurely for the things he truly believed
in to be good and true for the human race. Though he saw the mountain top, he
never lived to cross River Jordan into the Promised Land just like his
predecessor the Prophet Moses of old. However, for his efforts, freedom for
African- Americans was finally epitomized in Barack Obama becoming the first
Black American president. One wonders how King would have felt, had he lived to
see Barack Obama read his first acceptance speech to millions around the world.
Like Jesse Jackson, Oprah
Winfrey and millions around the world, he would have shed his small tears for
Obama. Forty years after his assassination, King has become the first black man
to be celebrated with a national day in American history.
Coming back home to Raila
Odinga situation in Kenya; his loss has angered millions of Kenyans and pleased
others in equal measure. It is the nature of any contest where a winner and a
looser must be produced.
Since the ruling of the
Supreme Court a week ago, many of Raila Odinga’s supporters I know have gone in
to a depression trying to come to terms with an Odinga outside active politics.
For the same reason, his perennial opponents inside and outside Luoland have
gone in frenzy with celebrations that at last the mugumo tree has been felled.
Raila Odinga’s fall now
can only be put in perspective if one explores Luo folklore. Such great heroes
like Lwanda Magere and Gor Mahia though they died physically, their spirits
never died. They have lived for a thousand years after their demise.
Unlike Martin Luther King
Jr., Malcolm X, Mahatma Gandhi, Lwanda Magere and Gor Kogallo, Raila’s
political fall is not permanent. He has a chance to rise up and pick the pieces
one more time. His chance lies in assessing his situation candidly and
discarding too many hangers on who might have shielded him from reality.
He has to be candid with
his immediate handlers and shake them off. He needs to go to Mt. Sinai like the
Prophet Moses did for soul searching and commune with his God. He needs to
retreat to Mt. Olives like Jesus did and commune with his Father when he knew
his time was near. Both Moses and Jesus needed God’s intervention for renewed
strength to face the battles before them.
In real terms, Raila
Odinga, for all his past sufferings, ideological sermons on reforms and just
government for all Kenyans, was politically crucified the same week that
Christians were remembering the Passion of Christ. In the case of Jesus of
Nazareth, the Pharisees and scribes were very vocal in demanding his crucifixion
to the point of urging Pilate to release Barnabas the murderer instead.
And just like in Christ’s
time, some of Raila’s closest friends and beneficiaries may have denied him
three times or even sold him for thirty pieces of silver. Yes, there have been
sadness and pleasure in equal measure on both sides of the political divide after
the Supreme Court verdict. It was the same scenario after the Passion of
Christ.
Following the Palm Week
verdict, many scribes have been quick to throw scorn on Raila and celebrate his
fall, however, unlike Jesus Christ; Raila may not rise on the Third Day to
rejoice with his disciples. His political resurrection may take longer.
He has to develop new
strategies of realizing his lifetime dream of a better, free and prosperous
Kenya; a Kenya where all ethnic communities have an equal chance to be the best
they can.
In pursuing this dream, he
may take lessons from Nelson Mandela’s endurance in prison, the Ayatollah Khomeini
of Iran who became the spiritual leader of the Iranian revolution and guided
the struggle until kleptocracy was defeated.
The last thing that Cord
followers expect is despair and disarray. Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka must
go to the drawing board to find new ways of building a stronger party and give
backup support to the sitting members of parliament.
They must make sure that
their MPs zero in on issues and put the Jubilee government on its toes to
deliver on its promises. Cord must be seen in action and deed to be a credible
alternative to the government in power. Time for whining and blame game should
be over.
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