Of the many things that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga remembers about his departed aide George Oduor, his situational awareness emerges as the most outstanding.
“He could smell danger from far and promptly and call for extreme caution or advise that we exit a place immediately,” Mr Odinga recalled in a moving recollection of his moments with Mr Oduor, his long-term personal security officer who died on Wednesday.
On Thursday, a prayer service and body-viewing session forum held in Nairobi heard that Mr Odinga cried over the phone as he discussed Mr Oduor’s death with politician Silas Jakakimba.
“He called me and he cried on the phone,” Mr Jakakimba told the gathering at the Montezuma Monalisa Funeral Home. “You know, for Jakom to cry on the phone, that means that thing has really touched him.”
It is easy to understand why Mr Odinga felt the loss so deeply. In his recollection, Mr Odinga painted a portrait of a trustworthy aide who faced it all in the political field—jailed in Kamiti for nearly a year, arrested numerous times, and sometimes forced to pick sides.
The other remarkable memory Mr Odinga has of Mr Oduor is his trustworthiness. For instance, he stated, he could always be trusted with money.
“George turned out to be a person of impeccable character: innocent, sincere, generous and trustworthy. You could trust George with money, instruct him on where it is to be spent, and I could be sure it would reach the intended recipient. He would pick a precious item you left behind and hand it to you intact,” wrote Mr Odinga.
According to Azimio TV, Mr Oduor “was known as the most visible member of Odinga’s security detail, having undergone VIP protection training both locally and internationally”.
Mr Odinga noted that he secured training opportunities for Mr Oduor, who started as a police reservist, in South Africa and Israel.
“(He) features in numerous historical moments captured on social media,” Azimio TV added in its Thursday broadcast.
Mr Odinga’s recollection of his times with Mr Oduor dates back to the formation of the Forum for Restoration of Democracy (Ford). Mr Oduor was part of the party’s youth team.
“When Ford split between Jaramogi (Oginga Odinga) and Kenneth Matiba, George easily picked sides and stayed with Jaramogi. He became part of the youth team that operated from Agip House and provided security for core Ford-Kenya leaders that included Jaramogi, Paul Muite, Wamalwa Kijana, and James Orengo, among others,” wrote Mr Odinga.
Mr Oduor was thick in the mix of the Ford party in the 1992 elections. In 1995, a year after the death of Jaramogi, he was recruited into Mr Odinga’s fold.
“I was looking for someone loyal, and honest, who could be trusted with things like money, important documents, and information,” said Mr Odinga. Mr Oduor fit the bill.
After all, Mr Oduor was one of the six youths entrusted with providing security for the body of Jaramogi as it was ferried by road from Nairobi to Bondo.
Mr Oduor will be buried on April 12 at his residence in Ndori, Siaya County. Condolence books have been opened for the public at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation headquarters in Nairobi’s Upper Hill and Chungwa House in Lavington.
During Thursday’s event, his role as a connector to the powerhouse that is Mr Odinga did not escape the speakers’ attention. Mr Jakakimba said he first formed a friendship with Mr Oduor before the latter introduced him to Mr Odinga. Mr Jakakimba would later become Mr Odinga’s assistant.
Ms Catherine Okoth, ODM’s Nairobi chairperson, said: “I knew George 30 years ago, and he was with Baba [Mr Odinga]. I don’t think Baba will get someone like George. George is a person who treated everyone as important. Whether you are an MCA, an MP, or a lowly person, he doesn’t discriminate.”
George Oduor (circled), a long-serving bodyguard of ODM leader Raila Odinga.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
Mr Oduor was largely a reclusive figure who was content with being on Mr Odinga’s side. A check on past coverage of him in the Nation revealed a man who played in the political arena with all he could.
In the Nation edition of October 25, 1991, in a report about the stoning of a car belonging to Raila, Mr Oduor said he was in a car alongside a driver, heading to Mr Odinga’s place of work when a white Toyota Corolla overtook them and stopped.
Mr Oduor told Nation: “A man came out of the car, leaving four other people inside. He held a stone in his hands wrapped in polythene paper. He then threw the stone which smashed the rear windscreen”
In the edition of August 13, 1997, Mr Oduor was in the news after he was arrested in a crackdown that followed the killing of police officers.
The paper reported that Mr Oduor “was fished out of the MP’s [Mr Odinga’s] limousine outside Parliament Buildings. Two officers who had kept surveillance forcibly removed him”.
In the January 16, 2000 edition, Mr Oduor was among the people on the receiving end of the then Ugenya MP James Orengo, who accused him of being in a group that unleashed violence on him and other MPs at Parliament Buildings.
In a June 22, 1994 story, Mr Oduor was reported to be one of the people who were injured when youths in the Ndhiwa constituency stoned a convoy of Ford-Kenya supporters.
In all, Mr Oduor headed where the political waves of Mr Odinga’s camp carried him, suffering and thriving in equal measure.
One sentence in Mr Odinga’s tribute on Wednesday summed it up: “We have stood, fallen and risen together.”
Mr Oduor has been ailing for a while, and Mr Odinga said he could regularly travel with him for check-ups. Lindi MCA Samson Jerah told Thursday’s gathering that he was to see him on the day he died.
“I was in the hospital two days ago with Mama [Mr Oduor’s widow]. I went to see George, and we were told that we could not see him because the doctor was actually working on him. So, myself, Mama, her friends, and many others sat somewhere in a kiosk. Mama was telling me that the previous days, George was critically ill but on that material day, he sat for three hours with them in a very jovial mood. And I was happy. She even told me, ‘Come tomorrow when he’ll be alone. I will allow you to come and see him because you are his friend.’ I can’t believe that the following day as we spoke, George passed on,” said Mr Jerah.
Mr Oduor Ong’wen, the executive director of Mr Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party, joined the many who described Mr Oduor’s conduct as the party leader’s aide.
“George is one person that you can describe as having been very firm but also very human. Very strict but also very amiable. He’s a person who knew his work,” said Mr Ong’wen at Thursday’s function. “If there is anything we can learn from George, there are three things. Number one is dedication. Number two is loyalty. And number three, being humble.”
As the days count to April 12 when Mr Oduor will be laid to rest, framers of photos and films will have to make do with Raila Odinga venturing out without one of the most recognisable faces in his security detail. Mr Odinga sees the demise as the end of a certain era in his political journey.
