The history of our country cannot be complete without mentioning and acknowledging the effort by our founding fathers to secure our independence.
Former Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and fellow freedom fighter Ramogi Achieng' Oneko are some of the people who played an important role in realizing the same.
And though the two seemed to live in two different worlds, they had several outstanding similarities, the first one being their names.
Though born Adonija Obadiah in 1911, he would later rename himself Jaramogi, while Oneko who would was born in 1920 was originally named Ramogi, both sharing a name.
Both leaders were also natives of Bondo in Siaya county.
While Jaramogi hailed from Sakwa Bondo, Oneko was born in Uyoma, Bondo district.
When the nation gained its independence in 1963, both found themselves in the government, Oginga as the Vice President and Interior Cabinet Minister and Oneko as the Tourism Minister.
In 1966, Oginga resigned from his Vice President chair after a fallout with Jomo Kenyatta and formed his Kenya People's Union (KPU).
They again found themselves on the same side, as Oneko too resigned to join Oginga the very same year.
When Kenyatta found himself in trouble with Kisumu protesters after the official opening of the Nyanza General Hospital in 1969 turned bloody, both leaders were present.
The 25 October, incident which was later named the Kisumu massacre, saw several killed and hundreds maimed after the presidential guard opened fire on the charging crowd which was unhappy with Kenyatta's presence.
Though Oginga escaped unhurt, Oneko was detained in line with the humiliation and heckling that Kenyatta was subjected to, only to be released in 1975.
After a while of push and pull with Kenyatta, both made a political comeback in 1992, Oginga as the lawmaker for Bondo and Oneko as the lawmaker for Rarieda.
This time, both were now in Oginga's Ford Kenya Party.
Today, both leaders are considered national heroes, especially Oneko who was part of the Kepenguria 6 team that was jailed at the Lokitaung' Prison in Lodwar in 1954.
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