- Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba revealed how growing up in Mt. Kenya shaped a negative perception of Raila Odinga
- She revealed that her personal encounter with Raila during the BBI discussions years back shifted her perception
- Wamuchomba challenged the political class to stop demonising leaders for votes, urging more respectful and truthful narratives and agenda
Kai Eli, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings more than three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.
Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba has opened up about the Raila Odinga phobia that was successfully sold to Mt. Kenya.
Source: UGC
She now realises that her native region had a flawed perspective of the former prime minister, owing to the hearsay peddled about him as she grew up.
What did Wamuchomba say about Raila Odinga?
Speaking in the National Assembly on November 5, when her colleagues were paying tribute to Raila, Wamuchomba noted that Raila was unfairly demonised for political expediency.
“It is very unfortunate that when I was growing up as a young girl, I grew up knowing Raila Odinga as a politically bad man. We were told stories about him, narratives around his life, and we were made to believe that he was a very bad man,” she recalled.
She, however, cognitively liberated herself years later after getting a moment with Raila.
Wamuchomba recalled having an audience with the deceased ODM leader four years ago during the heated debate on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which had indicated an oncoming referendum.
The MP recalled sitting with Raila at his home in Karen, where he opened her eyes to a lot of things.
“When I was elected in the last parliament in this house, through my interaction with the very many leaders in this house, when we formed a coalition around BBI, I got an opportunity to share a table with Baba. I remember that one very evening when he hosted me and Karen over a drink to demystify the BBI narratives, and he asked me a question about my one-man, one-chilling push within the BBI,” she said.
She learnt that Raila was accommodating and understanding, far from the tall tales told to them when they were young.
After the interaction, she made friends with Raila and changed her view of him.
“To my shock, I did not know that Baba was that very understanding man. He lent me his ear, listened to me, expounded his opinion, swayed my opinion, and made friendship with this little girl from Githunguri. And from that day on, I was very proud to even have Baba’s phone number saved on my phone,” she recalled.
Source: Facebook
How Raila changed Wamuchomba’s political perspective
Wamuchomba regretted that Raila was used as the bogeyman in Mt Kenya politics to win elections for those who sought various elective posts without a transformative agenda.
She lamented that the urban legends became ingrained in the natives of the region, who developed a strong dislike of an innocent Raila.
According to her, it was wrong to demonise people of Raila’s kind despite their sacrifices to the country.
She urged her colleagues in politics to emulate Raila’s spirit of tolerance and hospitality and shun casting misplaced aspersions against each other, noting that politics should not override the rudiments of life.
“I want to speak about how we package political narratives, especially for us, the political class. We have demonised people who don’t deserve to be demonised. We have branded people with the wrong tags who don’t deserve to be given such tags,” she said.
“There are so many people wondering, is this the same one we remember speaking well about Baba when we campaigned around Baba’s personality to win votes. I think it’s time. Baba’s story should teach us how we should be speaking politically, even when we are competing for votes. Politics is not worth tarnishing people’s images, targeting people’s families, and ruining people’s social image. As Baba rests, these are challenges to the political class, I included. Politics is a game, but life is sacred.”
How Railla strived to demystify myths against him
In his lifetime, Raila had sought to change the perception held by those who were opposed to him.
During his visits to the Mt Kenya region, he would remind the natives that his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, forwent the presidency to demand the release of detained Jomo Kenyatta.
He also recalled his commitment to the election of Mwai Kibaki in the 2002 General Election.
Raila underscored that had he, or his community, borne animosity against the Mt Kenya people, then the foregoing instances, of Jaramogi demanding Kenyatta’s release and him (Raila) shelving his presidential ambition in 2002 to back Kibaki, would not have been a reality.
The former prime minister died on October 15 at the age of 80.
Proofreading by Asher Omondi, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
