Now that Prime Minister Raila Odinga has come to Stockholm and gone, it would probably be felicitous to conduct an autopsy of his visit. Although he arrived under the auspices of the European Commission which was hosting the EU Development Days Conference in conjunction with the Swedish government, Raila’s Stockholm visit assumed its own unique dimension from the point of view of Kenya-Stockholm populace.
For one, Raila was visiting Stockholm on official Kenya government assignment as opposed to the last time he was in
town in April 1998. The difference is that in 1998, Raila was facing massive opposition from critics and opponents who were all too ready to chastise him for his “cooperation” with the then dictatorial government of former President Daniel arap Moi.
According to critics, Raila had betrayed the struggle by working with Moi who had detained him for more than eight years as the dictator trampled on the rights and freedoms of Kenyans under a one Party tyranny. Politically, Raila’s act of going to bed with Moi was seen as an abomination and his critics exploited the development to the hilt to try and embarrass him and bring him down politically.
The April 1998 Stockholm meeting was very stormy and some loud-mouthed critics seized on the opportunity to use obscene language to attack Raila and to try and reduce him to nothing. I captured the whole meeting on video and when word went round that Raila was coming to Stockholm this time around, memories of experiences during the last meeting somehow defined the scope of expectations. Was Raila bound to face another hostile crowd similar to the one that was in place in 1998 or was he set for a walkover, now that his Presidency had been stolen before rising to position of Prime Minister?
Another issue is that Kenya-Stockholm is divided into pro and anti Raila units. There are two distinct camps – those aligned to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) which Raila leads and those who draw instruction from the Party of National Unity (PNU) and who mainly sing the Gospel according to the Republic of PNU.
Although the two rival Parties are sitting in the fragile Coalition government, suspicion reigns supreme when it comes to Kenyan politics. The ODM wing in Stockholm still maintains that Kenya’s Presidency was stolen from them while PNU hardliners have constantly taken the position that Raila is a crook who refused to accept defeat by Kibaki thereby plunging Kenya into crisis.
Card system collapsed
It has to be emphasized that in Stockholm, both ODM and PNU big wigs and supporters alike get along quite well because of the political maturity that the Swedish system of government has inculcated into the consciousness of both ODM and PNU supporters. At social functions, you might not even notice the political rivalry and this tendency ought to be appreciated because it is a sign of political maturity even though political alignments still remain at the ethnic level.
As Kenya-Stockholmers awaited for Raila Odinga to land, a mix-up of issues almost put his meeting with Kenyans in limbo. The PNU aligned Ambassador Purity Muhindi allegedly ensured that majority of those who received invitation cards to attend the meeting were PNU followers. This led to bitter complaints that catapulted the Embassy into damage control by announcing that those who wanted to attend the meeting could send their emails so that their problems could be looked into.
When Mr. Martin Ngatia (ODM Vice Chairperson) did not receive a card as some Kenyans began to broadcast the fact that they had the cards, ODM members raised the alarm. They accused the Ambassador of both tribalism and favoritism and attacked her for scheming to pack the Raila meeting hall with PNU supporters as a strategy of undermining the PM.
In fact, many ODM supporters vowed to attend the meeting “with or without invitation cards” thereby introducing a cloud of anxiety over the Raila meeting. The implication was that there could be war at the Hotel if things were not sorted out and the heavy police presence around the venue spoke volumes about the ensuing tension over the invitation card issue.
When push came to shove, the card system collapsed when Embassy officials led by Mr. Andambi, noticed that it was practically impossible to stop Kenyans from attending the meeting. Another problem is that some ODM members had successfully campaigned for people to walk out from the meeting hall as soon as Raila walked in if other citizens were kept out of the hall because of cheap Embassy theatrics.
As the meeting began, Ambassador Purity was immediately cast on the spot. Purity has never introduced her family to members of the Kenyan community because she has never met them outside the official two hour drinking sprees during national celebrations where she never gives speeches. For the first time, Purity seized on the opportunity to introduce her hubby, the real Mr. Muhindi and her kids. While introducing members of her family was a good idea, it was pathetic that Raila had to come to Stockholm for her to do so officially.
Prime Minister Eating in public
Nobody needed spectacles to detect that the occasion turned out to be a very big challenge for Purity because she appeared very unstable. She seemed to have schemed for some Kenyans to come from Norway but when she noticed that they were not in the hall after she tried to introduce them, she quickly moved on and covered up by suggesting that may be “they are on the way”. At least, this bit was captured on video. Her crude attempt to profile herself as an Ambassador who has Kenyan contacts in Norway failed before the Prime Minister and members of the Kenya Stockholm community.
When Raila took the mike to speak, Kenyans gave him a very easy time. The questions revolved around dual citizenship, the delivery of a new constitution, progress on reforms, the crisis of IDPs, the Mau forest evictions and what have you. Noticing that the situation was “easy going”, Raila simply took his time to lecture Kenyans on recent Kenyan history, taking them through all the issues they had raised until time ran out. It was time to leave.
In fact, one could notice the ease with which Raila spoke because he is always confronted with much more tougher questions in Kenya. He fed Kenyans with everything including bits about the Kriegler Commission, voting from abroad, post election violence and the question of The Hague among others. When he was through, something very funny happened.
Somehow, Ambassador Purity had planned that the PM would be served with food soon after he finished addressing Kenyans. When this was done, chaos broke loose.
A cute Swedish waiter served Raila food as Kenyans wondered how the PM would eat in public as his audience observed. What happened next is that Kenyans moved on to Raila’s high table as he was preparing to begin eating and began to great him. True to character, Raila abandoned the food, dropped the fork and knife that he was already holding and began to shake hands with Kenyans.
When it was clear that the dinner strategy had failed, a waiter was instructed to take away the food as Raila moved from the table to mingle with Kenyans and give anybody who wanted a snap with him a photo opportunity. That was Raila Odinga. In our next installment, find out how Raila landed at the disco at Lilla Wien shortly before midnight to boogie with Kenyans under tight security and the new dilemma of Ambassador Purity following Raila’s visit to Stockholm.
Okoth Osewe
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well written may be Raila is our only hope he should be given a chance we what he can bring to our nice kenya!
Of course his vote were stolen no question about that it doesnt need a genius to see that..
One more thing is purity really that bad ama is just that she is a woman sent from PNU side ama ni kasuba ile ya wanaume wa afika….
I missed the function, so keep us informed.As usual, Purity had to blunder.
Letz mbe honests janny,Purity mest sana venye she was navous and told some pieple that she wanted to confess to Raira abaot her bad relation with Kenyan in Stockholm.
Purity should be recalled because she cannot manage the Embassy’s affairs.Outsiders who observed her during the Raila EU meeting and the Kenyan reception,overwhelmingly gave her the red flag.Some people said that her husband Muhindi, would have made a better Ambassador.Purity is a political appointee AND not a career diplomat. Nyumbani is where she belongs. Kotut is the same. I wonder why they are paranoid when it comes to Kenya-Stockholmers demands for attention.
About Purity I think she is a career diplomat and whatever her work is unfair to dwell on her person all the time.I think she is a humble lady and a mother who would like her person respected.There are more pressing issues like us Kenyans working for one common goal.We must copy the Swedish and try to export their styles. Of course is our right to challenge one where we think things are not going well but the limit!
Before us is the ever hard working Prime Minister Raila who is showing others the way. He is brave, active and with huge knowledge about Kenya and its problem.In Kenya now those who had doubts about Raila are now turning towards him and so he is winning the hearts of many…the sorry state of the last elections should be a reminder that many lost their lives for no fault of their own but for they belonged to this and that Kenya tribes! People should learn to forgive each other and move forward otherwise chaos is not the will of many.Raila is showing them the way!