Like Nelson Mandela, Raila Odinga will be laid to rest by those who once condemned him. Many of the same voices now praising him mine included once mocked and vilified him. We called him names, dismissed him as unstable, a witch doctor, a man of chaos, an obstacle to progress.
Those who now deliver glowing tributes were once the architects of narratives that painted him as dangerous. Their attacks were never rooted in truth, but in politics a deliberate effort to discredit him and win power.
In 2017, that same machinery carried out one of the most vicious smear campaigns in Kenya’s political history. Its impact lingered long after, shaping how ordinary citizens viewed him. Many of us joined in, blinded by propaganda, only to wake up years later to our own guilt.
I did not always agree with his choices in his final years. Yet, looking back, I understand that he had earned the right to make them. After decades of carrying a nation’s hopes, Raila Odinga deserved the freedom to choose his own path. To deny him that would have been selfish.
If even a fraction of the love now displayed in songs and tributes had been shown earlier through unity and support Kenya’s story might be different today. We are not only mourning a leader. We are mourning our own moral failure.
We grieve for the light we dimmed, the man we misunderstood, and the courage we lacked when he needed it most. As crowds fill the streets chanting his name, what we witness is not only grief it is repentance.
A nation seeking forgiveness through tears. A people confronting their complicity in the suffering of the man they now call a hero. Saying “sorry” to Raila means nothing now. The real apology is to live by the principles he stood for.
We lay Raila Amolo Odinga to rest with our heads bowed. Not only in mourning, but in shame. Because we finally understand that we misjudged a man who embodied our nation’s conscience, freedom, and dignity. Rest in peace, Baba.
