Active Citizen

Voice of the common man // zero sugar-coating//social justice

[Active Citizen @retired_comrade]

History remembers, 'world's poorest president' Uruguay-president-Jose-Mujica (2010-2015). The man consistently donated 90% of his $12,000 monthly income to charity. He lived a simple lifestyle from his car, security. His main agenda was to serve his people #WeKnowYourSalary

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

The Arsenal. Your Premier League champions.

[Adel On Politics @Broadbasedgal]

ORGANIC HATRED

Celebrations in Nyeri after Raila Odinga lost his AUC Bid

Sahii hawa ndio wako na Raila Odinga spirit. Call me a hater but this hypocrisy NO

[Active Citizen @retired_comrade]

Edwin Sifuna is still strongly enjoying the Wamunyoro and united opposition influence...Real test of his publicized wave will came if he starts hitting out on Gachagua and his minions...Let the man come out solo to gauge him!!

[Active Citizen @retired_comrade]

@Kenyans Wonders never seize!!! Gachagua talking about principles 🤔

[Active Citizen @retired_comrade]

@therealantoh Man has done ground work. He's a household name

[Dr. Miguna Miguna @MigunaMiguna]

This is laughable. If you think these are “revolutionaries” and/or change agents, then you are THE PROBLEM—not the rotten Ruto regime.
#EndZombism
#RutoMustGo
#RevolutionNow

[Active Citizen @retired_comrade]

A party that has been BURIED more than 5 times since its inception is here loud and controlling the political talks like never before... From Tononoka to Kitengela... The game might just be top notch 👀#SisiNdioSifuna

[Active Citizen @retired_comrade]

And just like that, Wamunyoro has been suffocated the political airtime, It's now ODM conversation allover, Sifuna and Oburu...Hii game some people must be worried and careful😅#SisiNdioSifuna

[Active Citizen @retired_comrade]

Sifuna seems to have learned something from social media gaslighting, case study PK, Morara,Omutatah, Maraga.etc. The exodus route just got deflated!

[Active Citizen @retired_comrade]

ODM remains an interesting party.
The party that has been BURIED more 5 times since its inception but it's still LIVING and pulling interests and emotions allover..

[Larry Madowo @LarryMadowo]

BREAKING: Ukraine says it has recovered bodies of 2 more Kenyans fighting for Russia in the Donetsk region.

Ombwori Denis Bagaka, 39 and Wahome Simon Gititu, 35 “were lured into Russia's war against Ukraine in Qatar, where they worked for security companies”

[spence @SpencePhabish]

I'm down to 2hours. Guys help me tag Erick Omondi 🤞 @AokoOtieno_ @castrofy26 @kenyasgossips @ErickOmondii

[Active Citizen @retired_comrade]

There are things that pains forever whenever heard.. Referring to Raila as the LATE, MAREHEMU, MWENDA ZAKE...
😭😭

[Kipkalya Kones @MrKipkalya]

Every so often, we wake up to the reality that Raila actually died. Then a sharp pain pierces through us. I have seen friends, relatives and colleagues break down suddenly. Men and women, from everywhere in the country.

It is not a pain we try to hide. Even those who break down do so without losing any dignity. There is a realisation that in all our lives, Raila was always there. We never thought about him as dead.

The pain will endure for a long time.

[Phannie A. Kwegah 🇰🇪 @MissKwegah1]

GIMA RAILA NENO KOBET PINY.

When I was a little girl,My Dad would say:

‘Gima Raila neno kobet piny,Okinyal neno kata ichung e wi got.”

Which means
‘What Raila sees while seated,You will never see if you stood on top of a Mountain’

And this words have never rang True until after his death.

When the family lawyer instructed two things:

1.That Raila insisted to be buried in 72 Hours.
2.That Raila insisted to be buried not at his home in Opoda,But at Kang’o Ka Jaramogi.

My kids with whom I have been having a lot of discussions on Raila asked:

‘If Raila was very Pro Luo Culture,Why is he being buried in 72 hours unlike a very important man in the community,Also Why is he being buried outside his home?”

And My answer was:

"I have no Idea but I am sure it will make sense soon"

I think a lot about Ida.

After spending 40 years with this man,
From the word go She had to lend him to the people,Had to lend him to 6 years of detention.
In her own words she says

"I thought I was marrying and Engineer which is a very quiet profession..little did I know,I was marrying a political engineer"

For that illustrious 40 years,You are thinking Probably in death,She gets to now have Raila to herself.

But from the moment his death is announced,Mourners start pouring into her home in Karen.

Ida received the news at 7 and at 8 People were already headed to her home in Karen and they stayed there throughout until the day Raila left for Kisumu,She did not really have a moment,a day,to take stock of what had happened to her.

The body arrives from India and at JKIA Raila is taken over by the People,All the way to Kasarani it’s the People,To Nyayo It’s the people,To Kisumu it’s the People,To Bondo It’s the People.

Two weeks later,She has shaken more hands than any person in the country.

From dawn to dusk guests Pour in to commiserate with her.

She has shaken hands of Political friends and Political enemies,
The young and the Old,
Billionaires and Peasants,
Pilots and Boda Boda riders,
The Pious and the Sinners,
The sane and the Insane.
The sober and the drunk.

And it so happens that even in death,Raila belongs to the people.

I read Chimamanda’s book ‘Notes on Grief’ and there is a chapter where she says ‘In Africa when a man dies,People say do not leave the wife alone,But what if the Wife wants to be alone?”

I recall in moments of great grief,I want to be left alone.

But This is a Luxury Ida does not afford,
Atleast not now.
She has to welcome,has to host,has to give speeches,has to smile,has to postpone her grief,her tears, and the crater the love of her life has left.
She has to forsake her own loss to console the broken.

And that is to be the Mother of the Nation.

Raila sat down,Looked at his wife and realized that if he was to go before her,He will spare her weeks of people streaming into their home in Karen before the burial and settled at 72 Hours,Make it as quick as possible.

He then realized his wife will need Privacy at some point after his death at their Opoda home
And that his grave may be turned into a Shrine for Raila Pilgrims travelling from far and wide for years to come,So he decided to be buried not at the home he built for her,but at Kang’o Ka Jaramogi which is more or less a Public Museum which is always open to visitors.
So Ida May find Peace.

Raila’s gift to Ida finally was Peace.

And I Pray she finds it sometime soon.
~ Deborah Auko

[Tom @AiwithVitor]

A TRIP TO CHECK ON BABA WILL BE LIKE A TRIP TO MECCA.

Raila Odinga’s gravesite will remain a pilgrimage venue for so many years to come.

The Odingas need to find a way of ensuring the resting grounds of Baba remain public and accessible to anyone who want to ‘report’ Kenya to Baba.

Kang’o village entrepreneurs, if they are smart, can develop an entire tourism eco-system and improve the wealth of the village by the very presence of Baba, resting in their midsts.

Siaya County Government Department of TOURISM needs to move with speed and curate an experience like no other.

RAILA ODINGA IS AN ETERNAL HISTORICAL FIGURE.

[Siasa Lab. 🧫 @SiasaLab]

"As long as the Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand."

~Venerable Bede

[Active Citizen @retired_comrade]

They're still determined to drag Raila Odinga's name from the grave for political millage..so their syllabus has changed from kutusi Baba to now celebrating his death to stay relevant!!
Mutahi Kahiga is setting the pace

[FERDINAND OMONDI @FerdyOmondi]

Literature really saw this one coming.
This is a current setbook in Kenyan schools

Art mirrors Life.

[Kipkalya Kones @MrKipkalya]

Some of the most touching things I've watched in the past five days;

1. A massive Bobi Wine campaign rally in Uganda turned into a celebration of Raila's life, with the sea of humanity passionately singing "Baba for us all".

2. A group of graduating nurses in the USA interrupting their program to chant "you'll always be our Baba" in commemorating Raila Odinga.

3. The calm dignity and utmost grace of Rosemary Odinga in mourning her dad, confirming why she remains my favourite Odinga and many other people's favourite.

4. A video supposedly from far-away Lokichar, in Turkana County, of a huge night vigil for Raila, the day before his burial.

5. Tanzanians at Isibania Border, besieging the border police post to attempt to release the detained CHADEMA vice president, so that he could proceed to Raila's burial in Bondo. Their chants of "Anaenda kwa Baba!" were the stuff of goose bumps.

6. A video supposedly from Naivas branches, which stopped business at the point of Raila's burial, to sing the national anthem in his honour, with staff and shoppers all standing stiff in unison.

7. A beautiful, large memorial service in India. For Raila. And unlike Kenyan politicians (especially mountain one), everyone at this Indian temple seemed to get Raila's name right. All three names.

8. A brilliant photo of some uniformed security officers at a remote border patrol station in North Eastern Kenya, placing Raila's portrait on a stool and surrounding it to conduct their own memorial service.

9. Uhuru Kenyatta going back to Kang'o ka Jaramogi for a personal and private visit to Raila's grave to properly do his farewell. Class is truly permanent.

10. The little kids at Ithokwe Stadium Kitui, who did their own beautiful tribute to Raila during Mashujaa Day, all dressed in heavenly white.

For the millions of Raila supporters, these things mean to us so much more than words can convey.