Ida Odinga: A true heroine of the Second Liberation

By MAKAU MUTUA
Posted  Saturday, May 28 2011 at 19:38

In Summary

• Heroines: Many women struggled in the frontlines with men. Just as many others held families together at great odds. Among them is Betty Ida Odinga,

The feminist slogan that “behind [beside] every great man there’s a great woman” aptly describes the partnership between Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his wife, Ida Odinga.

No other Kenyan power couple has been so tormented by the valleys of life and teased by the peaks of power.

Yet through it all they stoically wear the scars of struggle and enjoy the perks of privilege with grace. It’s a miracle that Mr Odinga has kept his sanity and sense of humour after a decade of degrading, cruel, and inhuman treatment of detention in Mr Moi’s dungeons.

I am not a psychologist, but I attribute Mr Odinga’s serenity to Mrs Odinga’s karma and inner strength. She’s his rock.

Politics is a cruel game. The politics of reform and revolution is even deadlier. It shatters families and drives valiant men and women to oblivion, if not to their early graves. Only the strongest survive. This is where family and loved ones come in.

Without the cushion and embrace of the family — biological, political, and extended — the reformer is at sea. For life-long reformers like Mr Odinga, the personal is very political. This is equally true for his spouse, children, extended family, and their political friends.

That’s why families of reformers need a “spiritual” anchor. There is little doubt that Mrs Odinga has been the “spiritual” pivot of the Odinga family. She has kept it together.

We know that the public square, especially open politics, has largely been a man’s domain in Kenya. That is set to change with the new Constitution.

But it is because of male chauvinism that historically the leading reform advocates have been men. This means that while the men were detained and persecuted, their wives, children, and partners became the “invisible” victims.

In many cases, the women became the breadwinners. Most were frequently harassed by the State.

They lost jobs and houses. Children were kicked out of school and traumatised. During the Kanu era, such families were turned into social pariahs. This is the story of Mrs Odinga and her children. To the State, they were “collateral damage”.

Mrs Odinga’s trauma was particularly acute. She was sacked from Kenya High School, where she had taught some of today’s leading women.
Ms Betty Murungi, the former vice chair of the Truth commission, is a poignant case in point.

The late Police Commissioner Philip Kilonzo took particular delight in persecuting Mrs Odinga. The idea was to break her will and that of Mr Odinga. Mr Moi and Kanu hoped that such cruelty would destroy opposition to dictatorship.

Finally released

But Mrs Odinga persevered and was there to nurture Mr Odinga when he was finally released. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. She successfully raised four children amidst this diabolical torment. It’s remarkable that she’s not bitter today.

The story of Mrs Odinga is the story of the spouses and families of other reformers. The family of Dr Willy Mutunga, the Chief Justice nominee, was virtually destroyed by political detention in 1982.

The wife and family of J.M. Kariuki, the “people’s millionaire,” was devastated by his assassination in 1975. Tom Mboya’s family suffered a similar fate when he was eliminated in 1969. The same has been true for Dr Robert Ouko’s family.

The list of families broken by the cruel hand of the predatory Kanu state is endless. Elsewhere in Africa, we are only learning now how the Mandela family was devastated by his political incarceration. His marriage to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela couldn’t survive apartheid.

Kenyans got a rare opportunity to appreciate the bond between Mr Odinga and his wife when he underwent surgery on his head. The man Kenyans call Agwambo broke down in tears as he related how he couldn’t have made it without his wife.

That rare spontaneous public show of emotion was a tribute to Mrs Odinga for standing by her husband through the years — in thick and especially in thin. As is her wont, she stood there — beside him — cool and graceful.

Today she is a member of global high society who doesn’t wear airs. She can share a drink with American First Lady Michelle Obama one day, and drink tea at a peasant’s home in Bondo the next.

Many people do not know that Mrs Odinga is the founder of the League of Kenya Women Voters. Nor is it well publicised that she has been an important civil society player.

She is a quiet intellectual who lets facts speak for themselves. Although she is a critical voice in Mr Odinga’s life, she doesn’t crave public attention or crowd the airwaves.

Elective office

She has not expressed any interest in elective office, but devotes her time to charitable causes. She is the founder of the Ida Odinga Trust foundation, which works on women’s rights.

She’s the patron of several groups including the Freedom from Fistula Foundation, the Kenya Women’s Medical Association, and the Kenya Breast Health Organisation.

As we enter the new constitutional dispensation, it behoves us to recognise the heroines who laboured behind the scenes beside their male partners to bring change to Kenya.

Women will take a centre stage in the new constitutional order come 2012. We need to be reminded that they will do so as of right, not out of the benevolent charity of men.

Many women struggled in the frontlines with men. Just as many others held families together at great odds. Not even the Kanu state could break their will to live. Among them is Betty Ida Odinga, a true heroine of the Second Liberation.

Makau Mutua is Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC.