[Raila Odinga in a past event. He made historical errors during Saba Saba Day celebrations. Photo/Nation]
ODM leader Raila Odinga had a rare ‘short’ of memory on Friday during celebrations of historical Saba Saba day at Kamukunji grounds.
Although it is not a national holiday, the day is widely celebrated as the culmination of the country’s quest for pluralism.
And in his written speech, Odinga’s handlers made the factual error by indicating that the much commemorated day first took place 37 years ago.
The former Prime Minister, who paid tributes through a minute of silence, kept on repeating that the event in which multiparty crusaders were crushed by the police at Kamukunji grounds took place 37 years ago instead of 27.
In July 7th 1990, days after Odinga, Charles Rubia and Kenneth Matiba were arrested, thousands of Kenyans clashed when they had their rally interrupted at the historical Kamukunji grounds.
However, it is Nairobi senatorial aspirant Edwin Sifuna who rectified the factual error which came too late after Odinga’s speech.
Barely two years after the fateful day, had the then president Daniel Moi succumbed to pressure from civil groups, opposition and international community by allowing the first multiparty elections in 1992.