If there was one thing that Jakoyo Midiwo achieved last Saturday with his pronouncement about the possible murder of Raila Odinga, he brought the entire nation to a standstill. The entire nation was stunned. Mourners gathered at Dr. AL Gondi’s funeral looked bewildered.
They were not sure whether to mourn Gondi or absorb the new threat to Raila Odinga’s life. Either way; whatever it is that made Jakoyo drop this bombshell at the funeral; it surely produced the desired results. He hit the entire nation with what would have been compared to a 15 kilogram bomb hurled at the crowd by a suicide bomber.
If indeed there is fire underneath the smoke that Jakoyo unleashed at Leah Gondi’s funeral, the police must wear their masks and dig deep under the smoke to put out the fire because if they don’t, that fire may consume us all including the arsonists.
Jakoyo Midiwo is no ordinary man. He is not insane either. He is not some chang’aa drinking villager or some mad man at the marketplace prone to making outrageous statements in front of mourners. He is a respected member of parliament for Gem Constituency, a Chief Whip in Kenya’s parliament and a first cousin to Prime Minister Raila Odinga. He is too responsible to utter carelessly matters as grave as the assassination of Raila Odinga.
During his speech at the funeral, Jakoyo mentioned two crucial things: He chose to go public at that funeral because had he tried to confide in Raila, he would have been dismissed casually. However, he conceded having discussed the matter with a cabinet minister and a permanent secretary known to be close the Prime Minister.
He also said he was ready to swear by the bible and stand by his story. With those two compelling statements, Midiwo threw the ball in the Police Commissioner’s court. The Commissioner must investigate the authenticity of the allegations and if found credible, charge the planners together in a court of law. However, should the claims be proved false, Jakoyo and his informers must equally face the law.
A possible assassination of a prominent political figure like Raila Odinga must shock and get all Kenyans worried and depressed. Even if it is a rumour, it will trigger memories of Kenya’s dark past in the last 49 years beginning with Pio Gama Pinto’s assassination in 1965. It will remind us of the demise of Argwings Kodhek in January 1969,Tom Mboya’s assassination in July 5 1969 just six months following Kodhek’s demise, the brutal murder of JM Kariuki in 1975 and the murder of Robert Ouko in in early 1990.
Pio Gama Pinto died because he was believed to be Jaramogi Oginga Odinga’s foremost strategist and socialist ideologue. His elimination was believed to rob Jaramogi of a valuable ally in the post-independence struggle within the ruling party KANU. When Pinto was gunned down, cracks had started to emerge in KANU between the socialists and capitalists. Four years later, Mboya had to die in the same manner.
Mboya was gunned down just six months before the 1969 elections which had been postponed from May 1968 to December 1969 for no apparent reason. He died because he was the most credible challenger to Kenyatta were the elections to be held in a fair, transparent and democratic manner. Planners of his death feared that should Kenyatta pass away suddenly, Tom Mboya would be unstoppable considering his unparalleled political campaign skills and popularity among Kenyans.
The murder of JM Kariuki debunked the myth that Kenyatta’s regime was merely targeting non- Kikuyus. JM’s death brought the reality home that the regime Kenyatta led had taken a life of its own. This new class of Kenyans did not differentiate between their own and others as long as one interfered with their collective interests. Kariuki had to die because he had become too popular with all Kenyans- being the only Kikuyu MP who travelled to Rusinga Island to bury Tom Mboya.
More importantly he had become too vocal about the gap between the rich and the poor- often referring to Kenya as a nation of 11 millionaires against 11 million beggars. If Kariuki had challenged Kenyatta in the 1974 general elections, he would have won the elections by a landslide.
Perhaps the most perplexing murder was that of John Robert Ouko who at the time of his death was Kenya’s foremost foreign minister. He died just weeks after defending Kenya’s human rights records at Stockholm and Oslo. After his murder, theories abound about his closeness with Western powers that thought he would make a better president.
In all these assassinations, Kenyans believed the state operatives were involved. Back to Midiwo’s allegations- who is bound to benefit from Raila Odinga’s death? Obviously what comes to mind are his foremost political opponents whether he dies a natural death or gets eliminated through an assassin’s bullet.
Just like Mboya and JM Kariuki before him, he is currently the man to beat at the next elections if opinion polls are anything to go by. Secondly, the mere fact that almost all political heavy weights , the so called G7 have ganged up to stop his presidency is proof enough that he is the single most popular politician today. Therefore any misfortune or hand of God getting him out of the way will be a relief to his opponents despite the fact that they will shed a few crocodile tears soon after his death.
Sam Ongeri is not running for president. He is therefore not a direct beneficiary of Raila’s death. If indeed he has anything to do with this heinious plan, it can only be on behalf of someone else? Does he have a motive, an axe to grind with the Prime Minister? I have no clue!
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