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Raila Odinga: An Enigma in Kenyan Politics. By Babafemi A. Badejo. Lagos and Nairobi: Yintab Books, 2006. Distributed by Michigan State University Press. Pp.vii, 367. $34.95 paper.
This biography of Raila Odinga, now Kenya's prime minister, was researched and written while the author lived in Kenya, and Odinga was a leading opposition politician. Considering that Odinga was a major political figure during this period and the difficulty of doing research under these circumstances, Badejo does a commendable job. His book adds to our understanding even if it is not the last word on his subject. He analyzes Kenya's and Odinga's history from the time Raila was a child up through 2005, when President Kibaki reneged on his earlier agreement to make Odinga prime minister and the 2002 winning NARC coalition split into rival ethnic factions.
Badejo retells the political history of this period in Kenya while also adding color to it. It is a history that has been told often. However, the author's cutting edge is his ability to give the reader a detailed feel for the events he is describing and analyzing. He does this by capturing the words and thoughts of both Odinga's cohorts and family members, and those of a myriad of politicians who were some of Kenya's leading political actors. It is these interviews, including a chapter full of pro- and anti- quotes from interviewees, juxtaposed against a good deal of secondary source material, that give the reader a visceral, down to earth sense of the times and bring the ins and outs of Kenya's politics to the fore. By the end of the book one has some idea of who has done what to whom and...