By William Oloo-Janak

The death and mourning of the late Fidel Odinga has brought to fore the trauma of Luo nation that has shaped the community for over fifty years since independence.

Sadly those who do not value history are prone to making careless and casual comments about the pain the community has gone through, worst of them being the Luo elite and of course non Luos who do not understand the history, philosophy and culture of the Luo people.

The death transcends history not only in last half a decade but also a millennium history of migration passed down through generations.

Fidel’s death marked a traumatic experience to Luos and not only to the Odinga family and offer a time for younger generation to pause and think about their history.

Other Kenyans also need to appreciate the role the community has played in shaping the transformation and destiny of Kenya as Luo leaders paid a heavy price for this.

The death of Fidel may turn out to be one such heavy price the community has to once again pay, painfully, to write another chapter in Kenya’s history, which revisionists keep distorting.

Let’s now go down memory lane on some of the traumatic experiences: The deaths/killings of Ambrose Ofafa in the early 1960s, Argwings Kodhek (1968), Tom Joseph Mboya (1969), Horace Ongili Owiti and Otieno Ambala (1983/4).

The deaths of over 10 South Nyanza County Councilors in an accident during a trip to see the then President Moi in Nairobi in 1990, the brutal killing of Dr. Robert Ouko (1990), the death of Jaramogi (January 20, 1994), Dr. Odhiambo Mbai (2005), Otieno Kajwang “Mapambano” (2014), among others;

Other events: The hounding of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga from Kanu and the government and the events of the little General Elections (1965, 1966), The Kisumu massacre (1969), the banning of KPU and the detention of its leaders Jaramogi, Akumu Denis, Wasonga Sijeyo, Otieno Mak’Anyengo and other KPU leaders in 1969-70.

Add this to prolonged locking out of Odinga and the lot from National leadership by the Kenyatta/Moi regimes, including keeping Odinga under repeated house arrest.

The 1982 attempted coup de’tat, deaths of several Luo officers in the defunct Kenya Air force and the subsequent purge of other Luo officers from the security forces and government jobs.

The outcome of the 2007 General Elections which, in all fare ness, was won by Raila Odinga, was deeply traumatizing to the Luo nation; it was a case of “so near yet so far” which was compounded further by death of community members in Nairobi, Naivasha and Nakuru and displacement of more than 300,000.

Sadly most have nevr been compensated by the government to date while their counterparts from Rift Valley and Central have been re-settled.

Closer home th0e loss by Raila again in 2207 and 2013 presidential elections have left a scar in the community.
This grieves coupled with unrelenting assault in social, economic and political front has left the community in a limbo.

And now this death has opened old wounds as the community mourned Fidel showing an emerging trend and temptation to get into the self-blame mode, being advanced as a narrative by some Luos and by other none Luos that their many years of struggle for social change and transformation of this country.

The adjectives are many and are meant to dehumanize the community and force them to retreat, recoil and engage into an internal turmoil and inter-generational conflict under the name of ” moving to the mode of developmental politics, opening up space for competitive democracy, dealing a death blow to the “oppressive” Odinga legacy and bringing “fresh leadership” and such other diversionary and ruinous anti-community enterprise.

This cable of thought is largely being egged on by a cabal of non Luos bent on scattering the community into quarrelling clans to deflect attention from the enduring design at the national level to loot, marginalize and demoralize the rest of Kenya, by a few.

Building Kenya as a nation should not translate to breaking the unity of the Luo, demonizing their leaders and dehumanizing the people.

Rest in Peace Fidel Castro Odinga!

(The writer if the Chairman of Kenya Correspondents Association)