•Raila said Mzee John Mwavuda risked his life selflessly by delivering messages that kept me going during those dark days.
•Mwavuda was kind enough to smuggle in pieces of toilet and scrap paper that he would then write letters to his loved ones.
Image: FILE
ODM leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday described his detention guard as a special man.
Raila said Mzee John Mwavuda, who was his prison guard during his detention period at Manyani Maximum prison, was kind enough to smuggle in pieces of toilet and scrap paper that he would then use to write letters to his loved ones.
Raila said he would deliberately write official letters and give them to Mwavuda, who doubled as the official courier for the prison.
The African Union special envoy for Infrastructure said this could trigger the guard to be sent to Nairobi.
"Today in Mbololo, I had the great fortune of meeting Mzee John Mwavuda, my prison guard during my detention period in Manyani maximum prison. John was a special man, kind enough to smuggle in pieces of toilet and scrap paper that I would then write letters to my loved ones on," he said.
"He risked his life selflessly by delivering messages that kept me going during those dark days," Raila added.
Raila said Mzee Mwavuda is a person he will forever be indebted to.
"I will support a project that is close to his heart that he has told me about to fruition. He has now lost most of his close family and let us all pray for strength and comfort for him. Hongera Shujaa Mzee John Mwavuda," he said.
Last year, Raila shared tales of how he used to communicate with his wife Ida while in prison.
Raila said he would write letters on toilet paper and smuggle them through a friendly officer to his wife.
Speaking during Ida's 70th birthday celebration, he said Ida would in turn reply to the letters through the same officer.
Raila said, at one point while in Manyani prison, he went on a hunger strike causing his health to deteriorate.
The doctor appointed to examine him misdiagnosed his condition as high blood pressure and went ahead to give him the wrong medication.
"This now caused me a lot of problems. I could not sleep. I could here the sound of train coming from Nairobi to Mombasa and vise versa in my head," he said.
When he was transferred to Kamiti prison, the ODM chief wrote to his wife informing her of his health condition.
Image: COURTESY
"Ida went and found a doctor who prescribed the medicine that could help me. She sent the medicine through the officer to me. She even wrote how i was to use the medicine," Raila narrated.
However, Raila said he could not read well due to the excruciating pain in his head. So he hid the letter under his bed.
Unfortunately, the letter was found during a search in the cells.
While giving tribute to his wife of 47 years, Raila revealed that through the 'toilet paper letters', Edith Matiba found out of her husband's, Kenneth Matiba stroke.
"Again I smuggled the message through the same askari to Ida, who told Edith that Matiba was sick. This was before he was taken to Nairobi hospital under the disguise of another name," Raila said.
This was the first time Raila opened up about the pain and struggle his wife Ida endured to raise their family while he was in detention for nine years.
The former Prime Minister and eight others were detained on suspicion they played a role in the 1982 attempted coup against President Daniel Moi's regime.
Recounting his harrowing prison experience, Raila revealed his youngest son, Raila Odinga Jnr, only got to know his father when he was nine years old. That's when Raila left prison.