Why those who Mourned Raila Odinga in Dholuo hit the Right Chord with the Mourners

 By Thomas Chemelil

Language is a powerful tool of communication. Moreso, when you communicate with your audience using their tongue, the effect is always an immediate rapport with them. More often than not, the audience tends to reciprocate by appreciating what you are telling them.

Nowhere could this have been true than at the funeral of the late Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga at the JOOUST grounds in Bondo. When Raila’s son, Junior, took to the podium, a trademark Raila fly whisk in hand, he roused his audience with Dholuo greetings.

“Jothurwa Untie,” he shouted.

The crowd responded in earnest demonstrating their appreciation for his Dholuo greetings. Every other speaker who spoke after him followed suit.

Emily Anyango Odinga told the crowd that Oburu would often call Raila “Wuod Luo”, cementing the argument that African languages play a pivotal role in anchoring discourse, particularly when we want to strike a chord with the audience.

Yet, the younger generation of the Odinga dynasty chose to communicate in Sheng and refined English, underscoring the generational shift in terms of language. Their choice of Sheng and English signaled a shift in time, signifying the handing over of the baton to the new generation. Albeit doing so, they could not resist punctuating their eulogies with the dholuo chant “Jowi” in a bid to bridge the gap between them and Oburu’s generation.

It was the late Ngugi wa Thiong’o who underpinned the value of communicating in one’s native tongue. In his later years, Ngugi abandoned writing in English and instead chose to communicate in his Gikuyu tongue. He chose to go against the grain by not choosing to follow Chinua Achebe’s path of “Africanized English”.

While at a conference in Catalonia, Ngugi shocked the world when he decided to speak to the international audience in his native Gikuyu tongue. This highlighted his rebellion and belief that all languages are equal. The gist of his argument was that no language is superior to the other.

On his part, Raila’s elder brother, Hon. Oburu Odinga, chose to communicate in English during the funeral mass. Perhaps he wanted to strike a chord with the young people who loved the late Raila Odinga. AS he spoke, he clearly brought out Raila’s rebellious nature right from his formative years. He noted that he would often call Raila “Wuod Luo”, perhaps knowing that the audience loved Luo diction. He narrated an incident where Raila refused to pick cotton when ordered by elder Oginga Odinga.

“Father, why don’t you pick it yourself?” Raila is said to have retorted. “Picking cotton is hard.”

Oburu equally narrated how, on another occasion, Raila refused to salute a teacher who had beaten him. It was the norm then to salute a teacher after he beat you, perhaps a mark of appreciating the tough correction.

Oburu’s eulogy underscored the genesis of Raila’s struggle of emancipation which was to later show itself in his struggle to liberate our nation through the second liberation movement. This is a trait he borrowed from senior Oginga Odinga who is reported to have spoken to his Mzungu teacher at Maseno School in Dholuo in protest. Perhaps the Odinga gene is wired for struggle!

Yet still, when the Luo Council of Elders Chair declared “Satani asindwe”( a corruption of 'Let the devil be defeated'), It created a moment of humor during the somber occasion, cementing the role of well-crafted language in creating comic relief. His blend of English and Dholuo was inspiring. He mentioned something to do with “One Million ang’wen” to the delight of the crowd.

Local dialects form an important tool of communication, yet the choice of when and when not to use them remains at the   of the speaker. It must be underscored that good speakers must be in a position to understand their audiences well in order to choose the most appropriate tongue that will appeal to them. It will be meaningless to speak to a Gen Z audience in Dholuo as it would equally be to speak to old men in the village who have never stepped in a classroom in refined queen’s tongue.

The Prime Cabinet Secretary Hon. Musalia Mudavadi celebrated Raila’s adept use of proverbs, riddles and football commentary to entice his audience. He recalled when Raila once said in Swahili “Ata mkia ni nyama” (The tail of a cow is also meat), an anecdote implying that we should take whatever we get in a contest. When faced with obstacles, Musalia recalled, Raila would say “Tuwe kama siafu. Tutatoa nyoka pangoni”(Let us be like ants. We will remove the snake from its hiding place). This underscored the liberating power of unity in struggle.

Even President Ruto was not spared this craze of speaking in Dholuo. He greeted the mourners with “Amosou Jothurwa” and “ Jothurwa Untie”. He eulogized Raila by noting that the soul of the nation is aching and celebrated the man “made through the fabric of struggle.”

In conclusion, it would be apt to argue that language can only be meaningful if it serves the purpose it was intended to -Communicate. It would equally be good to affirm here that no language is superior to the other.