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Rarely do prominent people die and then a cult-like atmosphere develops immediately. But it happened following the death of Raila Amolo Odinga. Everything about him, alive or dead, was different from the others. In Kenya, others who had similar traits were Dedan Kimathi, Jomo Kenyatta, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenneth Matiba, Daniel arap Moi, and Mwai Kibaki. Each of the above had reason for people to develop a post-life cult-like behaviour around them but they did not. None of them had Uhuru Kenyatta as ‘Uji’ drinking buddy.
The closest to Raila, in terms of post-death public interest, was Kimathi whose grave remains an official mystery probably for fear that admirers might turn it into a shrine. In 1968 Minister of State Mbiyu Koinange assured Parliament that the government was taking care of Kimathi’s grave and that it planned to give Kimathi a national funeral befitting a national hero. But for some inexplicable reason, the government abandoned the idea of honouring Kimathi or even revealing where his grave was.
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