Wall of security Raila and Jaramogi built around them

It was swift, fast and furious. It was like a scene from a thriller movie happening rapidly before my eyes. My driver applied emergency brakes to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of us. Young, muscular and agile men in black jumped from speeding cars and pounced on armed policemen.

Within seconds, six policemen were on the ground crying for mercy. Bullets in their G3 rifles had been ejected by the security men of opposition leader Raila Amollo Odinga. The weapons were thrown into a nearby ditch. I can’t even remember how the roadblock barriers were removed. We drove off fast behind the speeding convoy.

This was in 1994. I was covering a parliamentary by-election in Lugari constituency. Raila was campaigning for a Ford Kenya candidate while President Daniel arap Moi campaigned for Apili Wawire who had defected from Ford Kenya to the ruling party Kanu.

The roadblock erected outside the Pan Paper Mills along the Eldoret-Bungoma highway was meant to frustrate Raila’s campaign.

The Webuye incident reminded me of another in Kericho town in 1992. I was covering Jaramogi Oginga Odinga’s presidential campaign in Kericho town. My vehicle followed his red Peugeot as the convoy weaved through Kericho town.

Armed goons emerged from the shops and converged on Jaramogi’s car. As his security team pushed him under the back seat, stones started flying from all vehicles in Jaramogi’s convoy. The stones were big and well aimed with each hitting a human target. I watched as the goons scattered, leaving behind shoes, clubs and swords. Scores of bodyguards stood tall around their boss. We drove off to Kisumu town.  

Raila Odinga and his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, had been forced by practical lessons and historical circumstances to establish a tight security and intelligence network that would shield them from countless enemies.

The assassination of key Luo leaders such as; Argwins Kodhek, Tom Mboya and Robert Ouko had made investing in  their own security of paramount importance.

Many don’t know that Raila survived the January 2003 plane accident in Busia which claimed the lives of a Cabinet minister and two pilots. Raila and Kalonzo Musyoka were supposed to join others on the flight to Busia for a homecoming ceremony at the home of Moody Awori.

While Kalonzo survived by the grace of God, Raila had serious misgivings. Kalonzo says in his book; Against all Odds, that he sat in his Foreign Affairs office ready for the journey to the airport, but something heavy kept him at his desk. By the time he was energized to leave, his colleagues were already airborne.

Raila on the other hand simply went quite. He had his own homecoming party in Bondo so flying to Busia would have shortened his journey. However, he had concerns about the mechanical health of the plane and the safety of Busia airstrip, which had suffered years of neglect under Kanu rule.

The 24-seater Gulfstream aircraft crashed into a house on take-off, killing Labour Minister Mohammed Khalif and two pilots; Sammy Mungai and Abdikadir Kuto. It hit an electric cable and came down.

In her memoir Against the Tide, Martha Karua says: “The ill-fated plane was to take a detour to Kisumu airport to drop off those who were to proceed to Raila Odinga’s Bondo home for another homecoming ceremony the following day.”

Current Chief Justice Martha Koome and Cabinet ministers Martha Karua, Linah Kilimo and Raphael Tuju were among the survivors.

Good security and intelligence insight saved Raila’s life many times, including one time when his car was sprayed with bullets. He was not on board.

The Odingas recruited reliable, dedicated and loyal young men who were ready to die for them. The most trusted ones even played the  role of food tasters while on duty outside the Odinga homes.

There were, however, times when Raila’s security suffered major glitches that nearly cost him his life.

Former Nation Newspapers photojournalist Yusuf Wachira recalls one such moment in Ngong town where he had gone to open a Ford Kenya office. Raila was also set to endorse his party’s candidate for the Kajiado North parliamentary seat Mrs Wambui Otieno.

Local politician Oliver Seki had given part of his building to Ford Kenya. Wambui Otieno was the widow of lawyer S.M. Otieno and she was intent on fighting Prof George Saitoti.

The building sat opposite Ole Laiser High School. Since the ruling party was hostile to the media, Wachira sought a vantage point from the school away from party youth wingers and the police. The headmaster allowed him to sit inside one classroom and use the window facing the building: “so long as he did not disrupt lessons”  

Jaramogi had supported Wambui Otieno’s desire to bury her husband in Upper Matasia in Ngong. Wambui was embroiled in a historic legal battle over burial rights with her husband’s Umira Kager clan. 

Clan lawyer Richard Otieno Kwach dismissed  Odinga’s arguments that some cultural practices were outdated, describing Jaramogi as: “A slow punctured politician”. Thus, Raila and Wambui Otieno’s relationship was cemented.

“From where I sat on one of the class windows, I could see the traffic from Nairobi entering into Ngong town. After two hours of waiting, there was sudden commotion. There was whistling, hooting and shouting as Raila’s convoy arrived. Then, dozens of Maasai men, armed with spears, swords and clubs descended upon the cars from all directions.

"They forcefully pulled Raila and Wambui out of their vehicle and started beating them. After close to 10 minutes the commotion died. Raila and Wambui lay in a pool of blood. Raila’s face and head were drenched in blood. Wambui had suffered deep cuts on her body and thighs and her condition was critical. I had been clicking away capturing the unfolding horror,” says Yusuf.

Yusuf hid his camera and rushed out to join his colleague Emman Omari. Someone volunteered to rush Wambui and Raila to hospital.

“We followed them through the Kiserian route to Nairobi Hospital where Raila received eight stitches above the lashes on his left eye. That eye gave him problems for the rest of his life and left him with a scar,” recalls Yusuf.

David Dimba Jakobuya, who joined the Odinga family in 1987 at the age of 20, grew in stature and respect to become not only Jaramogi’s personal assistant but also a key player in the security of the opposition leader. 

“It was my responsibility to keep Jaramogi’s diary and ensure his safety. This included tasting his food. We were guarding against poisoning. When Jaramogi closed his eyes on January 20, 1994, I was deployed as an aide to Raila,” says Jakobuya.

For 10 years, he served Raila, overseeing various field operations. He recalls the security scare at the Thika Stadium, when gunshots forced leaders to lie down. When Jakobuya realised the bullets were only meant to scare, he shouted at his boss not to panic before leading him out of the chaotic situation.  

Jakobuya says the Ngong attack on Raila and Wambui was actually an assassination attempt.

“Were it not for TM Adinda, one of the security guards in the Raila team who shot several times into the air to scare away the attackers, Raila would have died there. Ironically, Raila kept shouting at Adinda not to kill his attackers.”

He says the Odingas organised an intelligence gathering system that was unmatched and remains a secret even to some of their aides.

Jakobuya would work late into the night typing out intelligence reports to be on Raila’s desk every morning, keeping him ahead of other political players. Even members of his Think Tank wondered where he got certain sensitive political information from.

He recalls how Raila’s security team got caught in a hunt for Dr Shem Ochuodho during the Rangwe by-election campaign in Homa Bay district.

“Dozens of Gem people armed with spears sought to kill Ochuodho during the burial of the late Akiro Obiga. Some clan warriors had falsely accused him of having hand in Obiga's death. Ochuodho sneaked and hid in Raila’s entourage. I immediately took off with Dr Ochuodho, using Raila’s Mercedes-Benz.” 

However, during the escape, the vehicle got stuck in thick mud.

“We removed Ochuodho from the car, and at gunpoint, hijacked a nearby Nissan Kombo Matatu to flee from the attackers who were pursuing us with spears. Seeing death calling, Ochuodho cried and begged us to move faster as I led the operation to run away with his life.”

They managed to save Ochuodho and Raila would later join them.  

Jakobuya, whose books and articles I have been editing, describes the Nyatike by-election as the mother of all battles. Kanu hatched a terrible plan to ground all Raila’s vehicles to make it easy to steal votes in a by-election necessitated by the defection to Kanu from Ford Kenya by the late Ocholla Ogur.

“All our vehicles were confiscated, leaving us with the vehicle Raila was using. Raila called Israel Agina in Nairobi and asked him to send me Sh70,000, through the Migori KCB branch. I used the money to hire vehicles in Migori Town to support our field operations. I hired all the moving commercial vehicles my eyes could land on including defective but usable ones. Back to the field with this fleet of vehicles, we intercepted several Kanu vehicles carrying votes that had been tucked in the polling boxes being taken to the vote counting station,” remembers Jakobuya

The police eventually chased the Raila group away. The team went to hide at Raila’s mother-in-law's home Stella, in Migori. However, the police surrounded the home. Raila woke us up at 3am and devised a scheme to have us push his vehicle slowly towards the gate.

"All the police officers had gone to sleep believing that Raila was asleep too. We left the home unnoticed, started the vehicle engines several meters away on the main highway and drove towards Homa Bay.”

In their haste, Raila’s vehicle got stuck in mud at Opapo, along the route to Nyatike. Jakobuya and his team went into nearby homes, knocking on doors and asking locals to wake up and help Jakom Raila.

The response from the people was fast. Due to the sheer number of volunteers, they literally lifted the heavy machine to dry land.  

Jakobuya also helped Raila’s political camp in mobilising young people from local communities and institutions of higher learning. He became leader of the students and youth congress of Ford Kenya.

The Odingas valued tight security without acting paranoid. Raila would still mingle with the public and visit dingy places with close supervision of his team. Being the People’s Leader, the citizens provided an extra shield that most other leaders lack.

The other politicians of my time who were panicky and paranoid over personal security and safety were former Vice President Professor George Saitoti and political power man Nicholas Biwott. Biwott’s security team would empty entire washrooms so that their boss could use them.

I witnessed many occasions when the dark, shy and tiny but extremely powerful leader would randomly pick other people's drinks or food after they had served themselves. On a few occasions, Biwott picked a glass of juice or cup of tea literally from my lips and with a smile tell me: “Atemi hii yako inakaa tamu zaidi”

Saitoti, on the other han,d would order several crates of soda then randomly pick a bottle. During public functions, he would at times cut his own meat and supervise its cooking.

Jakobuya says his security team gathered intelligence and ensured they remained a step ahead of the government. They had their own intelligence wing. He, however, says that a time came when internal politics and mismanagement weakened the team.  

Jakobuya says that eventually, Raila’s enemies hatched a scheme that would lead to the removal and dismantling of his able security and able team of advisors through poisonous political propaganda.

“Sadly, Raila lost a critical part of his effective system that had ably kept his political focus rolling on course. We understood how it worked to his advantage. The propaganda was too strong that it gradually clipped Raila’s wings. Eventually, Rateng Oginga Ogego left, I left and Miguna Miguna also followed suit, all in different circumstances,” says Jakobuya

The former aide believes that by the time Raila was losing the 2022 presidential race, his intelligence team had been weakened significantly and infiltrated by state agents.

As Raila joins his forbearers, he leaves behind many lessons for politicians and leaders.