How Kisumu waited to hear 'ayaa jothurwa' but the roar never came

It is the end. A very sad ending to a true-life story of organic love, unquestionable loyalty, and an outpouring of care to a political patriarch of millions of Nyanza residents. Agwambo will not be coming back to Kisumu again.

Tears, disbelief, a wave of sadness, a loud anguish, and an outpouring of organic love to a man befitting the status of a hero were the scenes in Kisumu as ODM leader Raila Odinga made his final lap to Kisumu. 

He was their king. Their president at heart. The spine that breathed hope, assurance, and love. A fighter for a better Kenya for all, plucked from their midst. Households united in grief. Strangers hugged in disbelief, and tears rolled down freely. A moment in history to behold.

And as the military helicopter took off from the Jomo Kenyatta Stadium to finally take Amollo to his Opoda home in Siaya at around 4 p.m. after the end of the public viewing, a dark cloud literally enveloped Kisumu, sending a cold, biting breeze. A signal that the giant had fallen. 

Several held their hands high in the skies, waving their final goodbyes as the rotor blades of the choppers lifted Amollo away from where his heart was-the people of Kisumu, to a place where the pain of teargas and noise does not exist.

With each circle of the rotor blades, the body of the Enigma went higher and higher. Beneath it, broken hearts, teary eyes, and bittersweet memories. For the first time, Amolo flew away without uttering a word. Without waving his famous flywhisk to acknowledge the love from his supporters.

From their faces, this moment of intense anguish was clearly visible. Thousands of eyes, with lines of tears draping their face. A melancholic heartbreak, a majority had not prepared for. While some dabbed their eyes with their bare hands, others sobbed and wailed. Amolo is gone.

In a spectacular grandeur and an overpouring of emotion from multitudes, crowds battled a cascade of tears, waved flags, twigs, and ODM regalia. 

Heartbroken mothers held the hands of their children, some of whom are too young to comprehend the moment in history. An elderly generation who could not muscle their way into the stadium watched pensively as Gen Z’s blew whistles, drooled in tears, and wept inside the stadium.

The baba who would sweep them off their feet and send them into a frenzy with his characteristic opening line ‘Ayaa!’ ‘Ayaa!’  ‘Jothurwa! (our people), ‘umor?’ (are you happy?) was no more. This was the last time they would be seeing him in physical form in Kisumu, albeit lifeless.

This dark and painful reality left mourners grieving as they bade farewell to a legend. A man of all seasons. The only political voice they listened to and accorded a near-fanatical support.

The region has witnessed many events imprinted in the country’s history, but none greater than Raila's last return to Kisumu and his home in Bondo. People wept. Homes drooled in sadness. Some walked barefoot. Others tore their clothes in agony.

At the VIP podium, political titans that once roared in support of the ODM leader wore a meek pose, handkerchiefs in their hands. Even those who never frowned and the strongest of the strong, at least in the public eye, eventually broke down. They looked defeated. The lowest of the low the region has ever it. A moment that will forever remain etched in the memories of the Nyanza troupe.

Hours earlier, the crowd in their multitudes had spent the night  awake in vigils in various locations across the streets of Kisumu, lighting candles, singing Luo traditional didges, kneeling down en-masse to offer prayers, with some breaking down uncontrollably.

As early as 3 a.m., droves of residents had started marching towards the stadium to wait for his body. A miscommunication over the itinerary saw thousands more line up in Kondele to wait for his body.

The group is among those that were struggling to access the stadium as thousands more trooped towards the venue, leaves and twigs glued to their hands.

And when the plane ferrying his body landed at the Kisumu International Airport, a cloud of gloom enveloped the city. Where tears failed, chants excelled, and where voices failed, whistles took over. The pain must be heard and shared. Perhaps it could minimize the anguish.

A number of mourners told The Standard that they travelled a long distance and spent the night in the cold to mourn their hero.

Maureen Akinyi, a mother of three, said she had travelled from Mombasa to witness Raila’s last moments on earth.

“We are broken, and it will take us time to heal. He was our pillar and the voice that transformed our country,” she said.

Others claimed they travelled from Nairobi, Isibania, Migori, among others, just to have a glimpse at Raila’s body.

Some who had stayed for nearly three days without catching a glimpse of sleep, fainted on the line while trying to view the body of the celebrated ODM chief. Others sustained injuries from the scramble but were treated by the Kenya Red Cross Officials.

Despite the injuries, the exercise went on smoothly as residents queued to view the body of Raila. Earlier, there were fears the mammoth crowd would overrun the security agencies.

Unlike other events where traders took advantage of the event to sell foodstuffs to attendees, there were no hawkers on sight as the region united in grief and turned their focus on one activity-mourning the enigma.

A large group of mourners also trekked from Vihiga to attend the public viewing of the body of Raila. They were joined by others from Kisii who had travelled a night before to view the body of the deceased ODM chief.

While the center of focus was at the Kenyatta Stadium in Mamboleo, where the body of Agwambo lay, and his mammoth of followers trooped in to have a glimpse of him one last time, more action was taking place outside and within the Nyanza region.

Kisumu and Nyanza in general were a darling to the ODM chief. Here is where his journey started in the sprawling slums of Kaloleni. Raila was Kisumu, and Kisumu was Raila.

This perhaps explains the deafening cries that rented Kisumu’s atmosphere, enveloping nearly the whole city as residents thronged Kenyatta Stadium to mourn Raila.

For the last three days, the city had been sleepless. An endless session of mourning had been the constant feature. This climaxed with the public viewing of the body of Agwambo-a painful reality that some admit is like a bad dream they will wake up from.

The sound bites of some of the famous speeches and greetings played in the many sound systems across the city, pierced hearts and were a constant reminder that it will never be the same again.

For the first time in three decades, Agwambo was silent before his multitude of followers. In a spectacular grandeur and an overpouring of emotion from multitudes. To these people, Raila was not just an Enigma

The public viewing marked the first wave of a climax of a three-day mourning period.
It is a mourning that claimed five lives, condemned several to nurse injuries. 

Joseph Okello, a mourner, told The Sunday Standard that the region will not recover from the loss of Raila.

"It will never be the same again. We had been hoping he would continue to guide us for several years," mourned Okello.

Additional reporting by Olivia Odhiambo and Rodgers Otiso