Railamaniacs are his own destroyersDespite Mr Justice Otieno Kwach's ruling, I am as Luo as he. Only that, like many pedigree Luos, I am not a Railamaniac. I will not worship the individual. Most Luos, of course, will vote for Raila Odinga against presidential candidates from other ethnic groups. The tribe stands in their subconscious like Okot p'Bitek's "elephant". At least, however, many will not make a fool of themselves over the man. You have no idea how liberating it is, personally, to escape all straitjackets of thought � tribe, race, sex and religion. For one thing, it allows you to see things through relatively undistorted lenses. It is the only way you can judge an individual relatively accurately. And only when you know him as such can you, even when you admire him, advise him in his own best interest � critically, even ruthlessly. The private Amolo is a jolly good fellow, likable, kind, goodnatured. Frequently has he spellbound me, over whisky, with details much deeper than mine of the history of my own Suba branch of the Luo. Politically, however, Mr Odinga used to appal me profoundly. I could see in him strong signs of the tactlessnesses which permanently blocked his father's way to the apex. Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was also a good man � the bravest and most honest politician I ever knew. Yet that was where his Achilles heel lay. Up to the end, Rapinda never learned that � in politics � sops, caresses, stealth, parries and timely retreats are often more devastating than frontal attacks. Ten years ago, Amolo wuod Oginga was a facsimile of Ajuma wuod Odinga � forthright, direct, reckless, a bull in a chinashop. To be sure, derring-do may often yield much political capital. The Luo apotheosised Adonijah Oginga because, when it was still unthinkable, he used to tell white colonial district commissioners exactly what he thought of them � sometimes even with a "fistical" knockout! Similar swashbuckling was likely what enabled Amolo � though not with Israel's criminal guile against Esau � to steal the birthright from Oburu, the infinitely gentler elder brother. Raila used to go after his pet-peeves like an omuga [Dholuo for a rhino]. But, manifestly, he has turned over a new leaf. If the executive premiership, for instance, is a burning ambition, we do not know it from him. We glean it only from the characteristic ferocity of his followers. He himself now personifies calmness. True, Mwai Kibaki is seen as the fulcrum of his deadliest enemies in Narc. Mr Kibaki has even incriminated himself by vigorously condemning the idea of sharing executive power. Jomo Kenyatta � a wily fox � would never have made such a comment in public. Why dirty your hands when you have Myrmidons like Kiunjuri, Koigi, Michuki, Mirugi, Muite, Munya and Ndwiga? For the comment is taken as a straight jab at Raila, and this at the same time as Raila himself bends over backwards not to wrong Mr Kibaki. Raila tells his own Myrmidons � the Kajwangs � to drum up even deeper loyalty to the President. "Kibaki," he declares, "is the only one" . Intelligence is the ability thus to turn a liability into an asset. Raila has at last internalised Rudyard Kipling's dictum that you become a man only if you can keep your head when all about you have lost theirs. If it is only a ruse, that is the point. A politician without a bag of tricks might as well go home. Mr Odinga can now go much further than was possible with his devil-may-care tactics. Yet one gets the feeling that too much damage has been done. His past and his being a Luo combine to produce the deep fear that his name evokes among his rivals in other ethnic communities. The Luo have earned it by the very same assertive, emotional, arrogant, irrational, pugnacious and destructive chest-thumping heroics usually associated with leader and follower alike. The Raila of yesteryear remains its epitome in the minds of many non-Luo Kenyans. Fear of the Luo finds its most concentrated _expression_ in fear of Raila Odinga. That is what belittles me as a Luo. As Raila takes a better shape, his followers get even uglier and more destructive. They have no idea that they are only ruining his chances. |
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