ODM leader Raila Odinga is among the greatest veteran politicians in the history of the country.
Raila, virtually went through every obstacle in politics one can imagine and managed to wriggle his way to remain relevant within the arena.
The ODM leader’s journey has been one like a river that bends through the hills of the political field.
The son to the late Jaramogi Odinga found ways to remain afloat every time his enemies thought he had finally drowned.
With every defeat, Raila came out stronger and newer, making his closest rivals to go back to the drawing board to find a new approach to his tactics.
The vocal ‘chungwa party’ head employed strategies that have kept him fresh in the game for close to 22 years.
During the 1997 elections, the man nicknamed ‘Tinga’, ditched his party the National Development Party (NDP) for the one ruled by the then ruthless man, Retired President Daniel Moi.
This was a bizarre move by Raila considering he was backing the man who tortured him, imprisoned him and as a show of might, sent him into exile after the attempted 1982 coup.
“We merged the parties. NDP and Kanu into what became to be known as the New Kanu. I became the secretary-general of that party,” remarked Raila during a past interview.
In 2002, smelling the chance of pulling the first one on Moi, Raila joined the third ex-president Mwai Kibaki in successfully removing the ‘Nyayo’ man from power.
The win was described as a landslide for the NARC coalition as they put to shame a man who had moved from greatness to dictatorship.
In 2007, the ‘Kitendawili’ man negotiated his way into Kibaki’s government as the Prime Minister after settling scores with the former Head of State to end the violence that rocked the country.
Fast forward that moment to the present and Raila was back again in turning a foe to a very powerful ally in President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He first attempted to swear himself in as the President of the Republic after a rerun was declared by the Supreme Court following a successful petition by the NASA coalition after a disputed 2017 Presidential Elections.
The man who earned the term ‘relentless’, somehow escaped arrest and conviction for pulling an act that legal is attributed to treason.
The two averted a dire situation at the beginning of 2018 to what famously became termed as the ‘Handshake’.
That significant moment in the country’s history bore the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) as a project to ensure Kenya never goes back to the dark year that was 2007, which threatened to shred the nation into pieces.
On Tuesday, the country holds its breath as the contents of the BBI are set to be handed over to the two leaders after months of tension on what the report would mean to Kenyans going forward.
Once more through the joint task force, Raila is back in the game ahead of the 2022 General Elections which everyone awaits to see if he will give it one more push for the top seat, that has been eluding him with every attempt.