The body of the Enigma of Kenyan and African politics. The body of a man that stood the highest and tallest in the Kenyan political arena.

I read his book several times and last evening I reflected on the meaning of this life.

One time in 2022, my wife asked me why Raila was not considering retiring from politics and touring the world. I laughed and told her, “Raila has toured every inch of this world. Raila is now retired and running again for president is part of that retirement”.

Yes:
Raila has visited this globe end to end.
Raila has sat and dined with the mighty beings of this world.
Raila has talked with the lowest beings of this world. One day in 1998 when he was in KANU, I watched him having a conversation with two casual workers at that Raila facility in Kibera. They conversed for nearly 10 minutes in such an intimate way that I thought they were his relatives. No they were not. Just local boys who were not even too excited about it.

Raila has eaten and drunk anything that money could afford.
Raila has had the kind of political following that every world politician dreams of.
Raila Odinga has been in the worst of human situations – detention and prison three times – and coming out alive.

Raila has had the business success that every businessman prays for.
Raila has had the family that many men are looking for.
Raila has faced the family pain of losing a young son.

Simply put, Raila Odinga has had the worst and the best that the world could give – both in equal measures. I have always quoted words I learned from him during a one hour meeting at his Capital Hill office.

Yet today, at the close of the hour, Raila will be laying alone, in a fresh, wet, concrete grave, only surrounded by graves of kinsmen and women who went before him.

Not even his family will be there again with him, not his political allies, not his millions of supporters, not his network of friends across the globe. Alone in a grave in Bondo, far away from the highest peaks and the limelight of this world.

That is the simplicity of every ending of this life
May you and I live it well.
And may Baba Rest Well.