How Ida Delivered Books to Raila in Prison

By Auscar Wambiya

Throughout history, wives of political prisoners have played crucial roles in supporting their husbands' causes and maintaining their legacies. Many wives of political prisoners have become vocal advocates for their husbands' release and the causes they championed. They often led public protests, organized campaigns, and lobbied government officials to bring attention to their husbands' plight and demand their freedom.

?

In many cases, wives were the primary means of communication between the imprisoned husband and the outside world. They smuggled messages, relayed information, and provided emotional support to their husbands through letters and visits. They often played a vital role in keeping their husbands' spirits up during their imprisonment. Winnie Mandela, wife of Nelson Mandela, Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr, Larissa Bogoraz, wife of Andrei Sakharov or even Laura Chinchilla, wife of Rafael Corrales are some examples that come to mind on the importance of wives to political detainees.

?

In our third episode of Raila Odinga’s reading habits, we examine the role that Mama Ida Odinga, the wife of Kenya’s former Prime Minister played in the furtherance of the voracious, omnivorous and insatiable reading appetite that has formed Raila the man. These weekly episodes are a product of Raila’s personal testimonies from his autobiographical works Flames from Freedom and other writings about him on how books helped shaped his political career, one of the longest in Kenya’s history. These writings are especially important now that Raila is at the precipice of heading the consequential African Union Commission in early 2025.

?

Like her peers, Ida Odinga, Raila’s wife, has been instrumental in supporting her husband in his long and arduous political odyssey. Raila narrates in his book Flames of Freedom that Mama Ida was at some point allowed to send books to him while in prison and she would send about 20 books at a time. Raila had joined Kenyan’s opposed to the single political party dominance in Kenya’s political space and was being detained from time to time and moved from one prison to another by the Moi regime. The books sent by Ida would be censored by the prison authorities and only about 10 would arrive at any given time. The next time Ida would include the 10 that had been rejected and, on this occasion, some would reach Raila. This way, over time, Raila got virtually everything she sent. Those doing the censoring among the prison warders failed to realize how political many books are, including those by Shakespeare and even the Bible.

?

Some of the books Raila have found particularly entertaining throughout his life and which formed part of what Mama Ida Odinga would deliver to him to prison from time to time includedsome by Anthony Trol lope, Sherlock Holmes detective stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, books about daring escapes, such as Papillon by Henri Charriere, books about intrigue in high places, such as God’s Banker (about the Vatican) by Rupert Cornwell, Animal Farm by George Orwell (a political book if ever there was one) and Shakespeare’s plays, all of which, he says he read severally while in detention. And just as the detainees had established secret channels of communication with the outside world, so they also received smuggled books. Within a short time, Raila had quite an impressive library and the authorities found themselves obliged to provide him with some bookshelves.

?

In a situation where you are deprived of freedom, the Bible becomes a great spiritual and intellectual solace according to Raila Odinga. Most people’s early reading of the Bible occurs in school, when Bible study is fairly mechanical and undertaken mostly to pass exams, and most people don’t stop to think then about the deeper meanings of the words. But Raila found, in detention, the Bible helped him to look at situations in a different light. He found many of the biblical stories very, very meaningful e.g. the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, the discovery of Jesus by Peter, the trial before Pontius Pilate, the Jews crying for Jesus’ blood and demanding the release of Barnaba, the sermon on the Mount, Moses’ exodus and the trials and tribulations of the Israelites on that journey, the story of David and Goliath. He had read the bible in remand and he read it again when he was in detention, right through several times. He had the King James Version in English, and also had copies in Kiswahili and in German. He read the Bible in all these languages. He would read from Genesis to Revelations, stopping in stages to reflect and finding comfort and encouragement in some of the stories and messages there.?

?

At Shimo La Tewa Prison, besides the Bible, Raila had copies of the Koran, in English and in Swahili. He had wanted a Christian teacher to come and give him bible instruction but none had been cleared by security to enter the detention block. The Koran teacher did have clearance, however. He would come once a week and they would sit together outside for an hour. Instruction is needed to understand and interpret the Koran unlike the Bible, and his teacher guided me in appreciating the Koran’s teachings.?

The writer is the author of “The Relationship Between Books and Power”, a profile of the reading habits of some of the world’s most powerful people.