Secret documents reveal how UK Govt orchestrated a smear campaign against Raila’s father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga costing him power.
According to a report published by the Guardian on August 7th, Jaramogi, the Vice President, and President Jomo Kenyatta, the father of President Uhuru Kenyatta, later became estranged as a result of the three-year campaign.
The Information Research Department (IRD), the UK Foreign Office’s propaganda division, created the smear campaign.
The British favored Jomo at the time because they considered him as pro-European while portraying Odinga as a leader eager to cooperate with the communists.
One of the activities began in 1965 after there were allegations of leaflets coming from the People’s Front of East Africa being distributed.
Initially, the report which appeared in a UK publication seemed to side with the then DP.
It called the founding President a ‘reactionary, fascist and dishonest.’
However, the document, which received considerable local media attention, was intended to give the impression that Odinga was more willing to cooperate with both the Soviet Union and the Communist bloc.
“It clearly shows that Odinga was considered the main threat to British interests, and the lengths to which the British were willing to go in order to smear him,” Dr. Poppy Cullen, a historian, told the publication
The secret documents revealed that a year earlier, Odinga had reported that he was increasingly receiving poor coverage mostly in the British press, framed to appear as though he was making a plot to overthrow Mzee.
In 1964, another document surfaced painting Odinga as a tool for the Chinese, and more documents totaling 37 were released in just nine years.
During the attacks, Jomo was also said to have grown wary of his DP and accused him of planning a coup at some point but a raid at his home never revealed any evidence to that effect.
“Mr. Jaramongi Odinga and his associates may attempt some kind of armed or other action to seize power,” the documents attributed the quote to Jomo.
At the height of the propaganda, Odinga resigned and established his own party to compete with the ruling class’ chosen Kenya African National Union (KANU).
The Kenya People’s Union (KPU) party was swiftly disbanded, and its members were sent behind bars.
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