Raila Odinga. The man is like a cult with a large fanatical following. [Photo/ Wikipedia]
Like the proverbial cat with nine lives, Opposition Leader Raila Odinga is a man who has gone to the underworld and come back many times, triumphantly and with more power every time he does so. He has been described as an enigma, Jakom, Agwambo, Baba and all sorts of fond names that fans and haters could coin. And like the enigma he is, it is hard to predict what he will do everytime when things seem not to be going his way.
Raila Odinga has been a thorn in the flesh not only to the Jubilee administration but also the Kibaki regime when his utterances such as "I was not consulted" as the Prime Minister came to the fore, and the Moi regime when he and others organized a coup. Ignoring him can only be at your peril. Containing him on the other hand is a hard nut to crack.
Everytime Raila seems to fall, he comes back revamped, re-energized and even more vocal. President Uhuru Kenyatta knows this and that is why he seems a little inclined to give in to Raila's demands for dialogue. And if he gets the dialogue, one can never know what he will ask for next because, well, he is an enigma.
What baffles me most about him is the fanatical following he commands. On setting back home from his recent trip to the US, Raila was received by a large multitude and we had all to stop what we were doing, get glued on our TV screens as we watched him ushered like a despot. next week on Tuesday, the man to watch is not Uhuru but Raila, will he hold a parallel swearing in ceremony?
Currently, Parliament is divided because of Raila. The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is yet to be constituted because of Raila. The man is like a cult. He hypnotizes many.