ODM leader Raila Odinga's father Jaramogi Oginga was sharp but didn't like school at his tender age, the son of Maranda school founder Edwin Osewe has said.
Osewe said his father–the founder of Maranda High School–loved Jaramogi so much that he would pick up the initiative of looking for him any day he was absent from school.
Osewe said after school, his father would come along with Jaramogi and when they asked why he was more concerned about Jaramogi than them, he told them that Jaramogi will be a great man if guided.
He said their father insisted Jaramogi should not miss school despite the disquiet it caused among his children.
"Our father was a reverend but loved education that he formed Maranda school at the age of 17 when no one expected," Osewe said.
He recalled that the Maranda School was little known and no one would have imagined that the school would come to be among the best schools in the country.
"Then Maranda was a small school in the villages of Bondo and little known and many people used to despise it," Osewe said.
Osewe, who is now 92, was addressing students at Maranda while celebrating its 100 years of existence.
Raila, who presided over the celebration, confirmed that his grandfather never believed in education "and that made Jaramogi also despise education".
“My grandfather used to say that education belongs to chicken, and my son cannot be like a chicken to wake up every day in the morning to go to school,” Raila said.
The ODM leader said his grandfather even transferred his firstborn son so Osewe could not see him.
“My father told me that he used to hide in the granary to avoid Osewe from pulling him to school but Osewe could come for him,” Raila said.
Raila, who is also an alumnus of the school, said the move by the grandfather made Jaramogi’s elder brother–"who was brighter than Jaramogi"–not to attend school.
Edited by R.Wamochie
