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| ODM leader Raila Odinga. |
The Hunter agreed, but said: "If you desire to conquer the Stag, you must permit me to place this piece of iron between your jaws, so that I may guide you with these reins, and allow this saddle to be placed upon your back so that I may keep steady upon you as we follow after the enemy."
The Horse agreed to the conditions, and the Hunter soon saddled and bridled him. Then with the aid of the Hunter the Horse soon overcame the Stag, and said to the Hunter: "Now, get off, and remove those things from my mouth and back."
"Not so fast, friend," said the Hunter. "I have now got you under bit and spur, and prefer to keep you as you are at present."
Orengo's Worthless Rants
The above ancient fable might have outlived many generations, but its relevance and application today remains evergreen.
In fact, no one else would perhaps decode the wisdom in it better other than Senate Minority Leader James Orengo, who has apparently woken up from a deep slumber of Odingaism and is now sort of trying to retrace himself.
This was evident on Thursday during a Senate session on the impeachment of Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi Mohamud, when Orengo dismissed those trying to direct him on how to perform his duties as a senator in an apparent reference to the upheaval being witnessed in his ODM Party.
The Siaya Senator said he will continue performing his duties and speaking his mind on national matters.
“I can never be intimidated in my political life, because I have seen powerful people come and go, I have seen Presidents come and go. If my day comes I will accept it, but my conscience, the way I was brought up I can never sell it, I would never,” Orengo said in a fiery contribution that was widely shared and praised on social media.
Political activist Boniface Mwangi would, however, fall short of dismissing Orengo as someone who had auctioned his soul to the Devil at the altar of Odingaism and even making a step further to become a vocal 'sycophant' of its architect, Raila Odinga.
“The fearless James Orengo of the 80’s and 90’s is gone. The Orengo who ran for president. Orengo became a victim of Raila’s tribal politics. If Orengo doesn’t do what Baba says he can’t win any election. Orengo of today is just an educated sycophant who defends whatever Raila does,” Mwangi tweeted.
The fearless James Orengo of the 80’s and 90’s is gone.The Orengo who ran for president.Orengo became a victim of Raila’s tribal politics. If Orengo doesn’t do what Baba says he can’t win any election. Orengo of today is just an educated sycophant who defends whatever Raila does. pic.twitter.com/UUSPZHoxEG
— Boniface Mwangi (@bonifacemwangi) May 6, 2021
The Fable in Orengo's Context
And Mwangi’s assertion could not have been more accurate. Orengo, like the Horse, lost the plot the day he decided to seek the assistance of the Hunter, Raila, to overcome the Stag, political loss.
This was after the 2002 General Election during which he lost his Ugenya constituency seat for the first time since 1992, as well as the Presidency which he was vying on a Social Democratic Party ticket.
In the presidential race, Orengo had finished fourth with a meagre 0.4% of the total votes tallied while his party lost all of its parliamentary seats, as many SDP's leading figures had joined Raila in NARC coalition that won the election with a landslide.
While Orengo’s electoral loss was no small by any means, there’s a reason his symbolic gesture remains engraved in some people’s minds like Boniface Mwangi.
Orengo had demonstrated political independence and bravery to swim against the storm by challenging Raila and Odingaism even when he knew so well that his chances were close to null and tantamount to political suicide.
This show of political and mental emancipation by Orengo would, nevertheless, not withstand the test of time as in 2007 he would rally behind Raila Odinga presidential ticket which in turn enabled him reclaim his Ugenya parliamentary seat on an ODM ticket.
Moral Lesson
Since his 2007 comeback, Orengo’s political fortunes have seemed to flourish but at a hefty personal price of having to live “under bit and spur” of Odingaism, and which Raila the Hunter is telling him today, “Not so fast buddy...I prefer to keep you as you are at present."
For, as the fable above teaches us, “If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs.”
The exact thing that Raila is doing with Orengo 'under his bit and spur!' Orengo's realization of this status quo may have dawned on him a little bit too late, but as they say, it’s never too late to right a misstep.
To me, though, Orengo's fire spitting and frivolous show of bravery to challenge Raila's hegemony of Nyanza politics, is all hot air and useless efforts to challenge Odingaism at sunset, way too late after he lost the plot two decades ago. In any way, he is a horse under Raila's 'bit and spur' and it remains to the discretion of the Hunter to do whatever he deems fit with the helpless Horse. Doesn't he?