Oludhe: Man who gave Raila lifeline through NDP dies

Having lost his father when he was three years old, Omondi Oludhe did not let hardship hold him back.

He cut through poverty to get an education and lead a decent life.

From business, failed stint in politics with presidential ambitions to being a cleric, Oludhe tried it all and only his love for family proved solid rock and abiding.

The businessman died on September 8, at the age of 66. He is survived by nine children and numerous grandchildren.

His poor mother saw him through school and he graduated with an economics degree from the University of Nairobi.

He landed a job at the defunct Thabiti bank that was owned by Rongo politician Dalmas Otieno.

When the bank collapsed, he started his own investment outfit through which he would source funding abroad and come to scout for people who were struggling with overdue or had defaulted loans. He would help them repay the loans at enhanced interests.

In the 1990s, he decided to try his hand at politics.

At the advent of multiparty politics, he formed and registered the National Development Party (NDP) that had the symbol of a tractor.

In 1994, he gave the party to Raila Odinga after he (Raila) quit Ford Kenya at the height of power fights with Wamalwa Kijana (deceased).

Oludhe’s NDP effectively became the platform for Raila to relaunch his political life.

His daughter Roselyne Corazone Okoth told the Star her father joined politics to help people, believing that if he clinched power, it would arm him with the tools to afford his constituents economic liberation.

She said her father’s concession of the party was on the condition that he remained the chairman and he would be given a direct ticket to contest Alego Usonga parliamentary seat.

That did not happen.

“He was shortchanged. They never honoured the agreement they had with my father and being the gentleman he was, he did not cause drama. He left the people who technically snatched the party from him be,” Okoth said.

“Some people claim that my father sold NDP to Raila, he did not. He gave it to him on goodwill and believed that everybody involved would honour their end of the bargain. It turned out otherwise. The treachery was unconscionable,” she said.

From being a fringe party, Raila’s takeover of NDP gave it clout and visibility as MPs from Nyanza joined it en mass, instantly plunging it to the position of a major opposition party in Parliament.

All the MPs got re-elected in 1997.

It is Oludhe’s NDP that paved the path for Raila’s famous cooperation with then President Moi’s Kanu government in 2000. In June 2001, it was given three Cabinet appointments, including Raila himself as energy minister.

An audacious fighter in his own right, Oludhe also contested for presidency in 1997 as Raila made his first stab for the highest seat.

He garnered 3,691 votes. Moi won that election with 2,500,865 votes.

His first wife died when the campaigns of 1997 were in high gear and probably tanked his drive for the seat.

When politics proved not working for him, his daughter said he moved on and turned to church.

He became a preacher and started a faith movement, a vocation he gave his life to until his death.

“Politics always gave my father problems. I was a child at the time but I could see that it left him with more loss than gain. He spent his resources in helping people and planning his engagement but he did not get anything in return,” Okoth said.

But he was lionhearted, counted his losses and moved on whenever he was faced with adversity. He never allowed any situation to weigh him down.

“My father feared little in life, but he dreaded losing his wife and children. Everything else, he would shrug off with his signature wisdom: ‘It will end’,” Okoth said.

She said her father was a solid family man who was closely involved in the lives of his children.

“I’ve been haunted by the sense of his passing since late last year when I dreamt of his death. Premonitions have been with me since childhood, but this one was unbearable," Okoth said.

"I left New York and returned to Kenya, trying to distract myself with projects, but deep down, I knew I was racing against time.”