Fight against societal ills will continue, who'll carry mantle

The passing of the political man mountain that was Raila Odinga has left behind a moral vacuum. It has exposed the need for a voice that can credibly speak for the country, and especially speak truth to power. Many will try to style themselves as the new Raila Odinga. Few, however, have valid credentials. 

Raila Odinga was many things. He wore political, moral, cultural and even mystical shoes. His boots made some refer to him as an enigma. He had a history of pain and suffering. His was the story of detention, betrayal and incessant street engagement with the State. He was ready to walk into teargas.

He endured poisoned crowd dispersion waters, and even live bullets. Those whom he fought for hardly ever had a good word for him while he lived. But he fought on. Who has these qualities?

Some of his most ardent detractors would now like to be him. They have been in overdrive with his praises. Indeed, even those who opposed the Constitution of Kenya 2010 have lauded his role in giving the country a constitution, which is doing them a lot of good. And those believed to have helped steal his elections have praised his democratic record, his unifying role, and his excellent leadership skills. 

George Bernard Shaw dramatised the vacuity of posthumous praise in the play titled St Joan. A French peasant girl, Joan was burned at the stake by the Medieval Catholic Inquisition. They said she was a witch and heretic. Later, she was cleared of the charges. They canonised her. In Shaw’s play, those who lived with her on earth appear before her in a surrealistic drama. They laud her for the saintly things she did in this life. 

The irony is not lost on Saint Joan. She takes them to task with the words, “Woe unto me when all men praise me! I bid you remember that I am a saint, and that saints can work miracles. And now, tell me, shall I rise from the dead, and come back to you a living woman?”

One by one, they abandon her, leading her to ask if they would burn her again if she were to return. The last character in this scene tells her that human eyes cannot distinguish between a witch and a saint. If she should return, they will burn her again. Raila was no saint, but he was no witch either, even if we sometimes called him that. Would we give him the Joan treatment were he to return?  

Beyond our praises, we are also trying to be what he was. President William Ruto is our mourner-in-chief.  He has given Raila a befitting state funeral even if at times it turned chaotic.

Besides the fact that Raila merits a state funeral, Ruto is also a good politician. In the coming days, he will probably wear the robe of the national reconciler he says Raila was. 

The benevolent statesman that Ruto is, he will want to take on the character of a unifier. He will stand with the wider Odinga family and tell the country that it has now achieved what Raila struggled for. We should now just come together as one Kenyan family and forget past differences. 

Yet, can what has divided Kenyans simply wither away, just because Raila has died? Is there a need to address the concerns that, for instance, Kenyan youth have been raising? Who will have the moral authority to tell the President that these things cannot be wished away? 

What will it take to claim this authority? A clean record, for a start, coupled with courage, and readiness to lead from the front. Second, is the ability to speak these things to power without sinking into orgies of consuming bitterness.  

Third, is the ability to listen to all generations of Kenyans and to be listened to as well. This, even Raila was beginning to lose, in his last days. Next, is the ability to manage ethnic diversity. 

Most critical is the will to fight corruption, and to resist the temptation to be hijacked into the gravy train. Such a person is unlikely to be monied, or to have a regional ethnic base, such as Raila had.

This leader will most probably be a millennial with a mature outlook. S/he will believe in justice, listen, build bridges and know that sometimes you must accommodate others; not the kind who blindly condemns everyone who is different.

It will not be an impulsive and immature fire-eating demagogue, who could trivialise the struggle with childish radicalism. The search can begin.  

Dr Muluka is a strategic communications adviser. www.barrackmuluka.co.ke