The story is told that up until June 1984, the late Stanley Oloitipitip did not know that there were no beds in Kenyan prisons.
Oloitiptip was to get the rude awakening after he was sentenced to 12 months in prison for failing to pay hotel accommodation tax for a boarding house he owned. He asked the presiding magistrate to be told whether there were beds in prison.
He was duly informed that he would find out ‘when he gets there’. When the rotund Cabinet minister arrived at the facility, the first problem was that they had no uniform to fit him. But the ‘big’ man was not done.
“That night,” the story says, “Oloitipitip demanded a pillow and several blankets. It was then that he discovered there is one place in Kenya where former Cabinet ministers, pickpockets or Nairobi beggars are equal and that is prison,” reported the magazine.
The Maasai kingpin was denied homely comfort for a night. He also boycotted his supper. When the prison warders came and shouted ‘kaba’ (squat), Oloitipitip, not surprisingly, was the only prisoner who could not do it because of his gigantic size.
After a night at Kamiti, Oloitiptip was granted bail pending appeal, but before the case could be settled, Oloitipitip died at the home of a leading Maasai witchdoctor on January 22, 1985, near Loitokitok.
For those who don’t have a clue who Oloitiptip was or have forgotten, he was at one time President Daniel Moi’s Home Affairs minister, who fought and lost every battle against Moi as most everyone did that time. He was also a colourful politician, who at one time showed the press his bare bottom to make the point contrary to what Nyerere
and pretty much what all non-pastoralists thought or believed, public display of a moran’s behind was nothing to be ashamed of.
Oloitiptip also enriched our political lexicon in Kenya by introducing the idiom, “if you can’t beat them, join them”. This writer does not recall in what context he heard Oloitiptip utter those words but he certainly recalls hearing them being attributed him, only to find out later the origin of the expression is the West, begging the question how did those words end up falling from Oloiptip’s lips, knowing he was not exactly known for classroom prowess?
It’s purely a question for intellectual amusement but the case Oloitiptip was making was nothing novel. Raila Odinga himself masterfully applied the adage prior to the 1997 multiparty politics by crafting a Kanu-NDP merger, leaving many people scratching their heads as to why. The skillful strategist knew what he was doing.
The consequence was the resounding defeat of Kanu in 2002 by a Kibaki-led coalition made possible by Raila and his Kibaki tosha declaration.
It’s for the history books Kibaki tore into pieces his MoU with Raila immediately he became President, causing a rift in their relationship, which resulted in a fallout and the disputed 2007 election, which Kibaki and his henchmen are accused of rigging.
It will not be the only time.
When it happened again for the third time, Raila had a choice: To become a permanent pain in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s last term, making it virtually impossible for him to govern, or to simply join him, regroup and go for the coveted price this time with inside advantage with the added blessing of his not exactly strange political bedfellow.
It’s a master-stroke only the political genius of Raila can strike, showing dust to those who thought they had caught up with him and were poised to pass him and go for the coveted price itself, while those who have punished him with stolen election each time he has won thought good riddance, especially with Raila’s AU appointment.
How naïve of both; the handshake not only ensures Raila will finally get what he has earned but denied all these years, but the country will also be the better for it.
Samuel N. Omwenga is a legal analyst and political commentator in the United States