'I shaped Raila Odinga's political journey', MP Ochanda says

Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda has described the late Raila Odinga as a teacher, mentor and father figure, saying his relationship with the former Prime Minister was deeply personal and built on mutual trust for more than three decades.

“My knowledge and relationship with Raila has been very personal. There are many things I learnt from him as a teacher, mentor and a father. I have lost somebody whom I was fairly close with,” said Ochanda as he mourned the ODM leader’s death on Wednesday.

Ochanda’s association with the Odinga family traces back to the early 1990s, when he began working for Raila’s father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, at a time when Raila was still in detention.

“I had just finished university in 1990, and as we went for government interviews through the Public Service Commission, President Daniel Moi’s regime had marked us. At the point of interview, my file came with a mark that I could not be trusted with a public office,” he recalled.

Ochanda says that he asked the panel why they were proceeding with the interview when he could not be trusted.

He then left and crossed over to Jaramogi’s office. That is how he started working with him.

When Raila was released from detention in 1991, Ochanda said the former Prime Minister quickly noticed his commitment and asked him to join his team as a personal assistant.

“Raila didn’t know me personally, but from what he had seen, he said there was need to offload Jaramogi a lot of work, and he therefore decided to take me his personal assistant,” he said.

Ochanda would later play a crucial role in Raila’s political comeback in the early 1990s, including organizing his 1992 Lang’ata parliamentary campaigns while Raila was still in exile.

“He became MP for Lang’ata basically because of what I had done. I did that excellently because he was not around. When he came back, he got elected. He didn’t even know how many people made it happen,” Ochanda recounted.

When Raila defected from Ford Kenya to form the National Development Party (NDP) in 1995, he again sought Ochanda’s help to rebuild his political base.

“He came for me from the university because he didn’t know how to run the party. I placed everything down and helped him. That’s how he recaptured the seat with NDP,” said Ochanda.

From then on, the two remained in close contact, often exchanging ideas on political organization and elections.

“When I decided to contest against Oburu for the Bondo seat, I didn’t tell him. But when he heard, he called me. That didn’t take me away from him, nor him away from me,” he said.

Ochanda said he last spoke with Mr Odinga during the ODM Parliamentary Group meeting, where they shared a light conversation away from politics.

“We talked about so many things that were not related to politics,” he said, adding that they had some relationships that were not necessarily formal.

He described Raila as a passionate and courageous leader who trusted his instincts and often pursued ideas with conviction.

“Raila was very passionate when he got into something. He believed that something would work even when he didn’t plan it. Many of the things he did were never planned, but he would pick them and run with them,” Ochanda said.

The MP said Raila’s leadership was rooted in the desire to unite and steer the country in the right direction.

“He tried many times to lead the country in a proper manner, but anytime things didn’t work, he would come down for the sake and interest of the nation,” he said.

Ochanda also remembered him as a firm believer in sportsmanship and fair play.

“He believed that anytime you’re playing, you either win or lose. Whenever he lost, he would join the winner and wait for the next chance,” he said.

He added, "When he won the Lang’ata seat, he always welcomed his opponents. That’s why he had a problem with the winner-takes-it-all system of government. He always preferred to negotiate with the governments he had competed with.”

The MP appealed for calmness and order during the mourning period.