It was often a herculean task to get Roseline Odede to comment on an emotive issue, especially when the iron still was hot. Instead, she opted not to comment than inflame the situation.
Odede sat in the Law Society of Kenya council when Nelson Havi was the president of the organisation and when it encountered considerable tumult.
Her approach, even when addressing an emotive and controversial issue, was to be firm-handed but calm and avoid confrontation.
Her conviction was that still waters run deep, and it worked, at least for her.
The 58-year-old human rights lawyer who previously served as the vice chairperson of the Judges and Magistrates’ Vetting Board died on Friday after a short illness.
In the LSK council, just as chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Odede, preferred a controversy-free and level-headed engagement that ensured that even when in disagreement, things remained cordial and cool.
At the height of the bitter schism that paralysed the lawyers’ lobby, Odede often avoided taking sides.
At one point, this writer called her for an interview over the endless rancor at the Havi council but she declined to wade into the power struggles.
“I don’t have feelings over the controversies, and I’m not interested in talking about them,” she said.
“I don’t have to be grouped in one way or another on the matter.
And please don’t write that you talked to me.”
When the LSK stalemate failed to thaw, Odede eventually resigned from the council on January 19, 2021 during a special council meeting that equally turned into a drama fest.
During an interview in July 2021 for the hiring of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission commissioners, she defended her decision to bolt out, explaining that it was for upholding her integrity, and that the Havi council had lost all legitimacy.
Odede had a Master of Laws degree from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and was a litigator in private practice for more than 30 years.
