By Nyang’au Araka
When punda imechoka — the donkey is tired — Raila Odinga warned, the cart must stop.
It was one of his most famous metaphors, delivered with the authority of a village sage and the wit of a street philosopher.
The “donkey” was the ordinary Kenyan, overworked, underfed, and pushed to exhaustion by poor leadership.
“When the donkey gets tired,” he would say, “it will not die but kick.”
And Kenyans kicked the establishment, registering tremendous strides more than other country in the region.
During the 2005 referendum, when the orange became the symbol of the side that rejected the proposed constitution, Raila turned that too into poetry.
What began as a fruit on a ballot paper rolled into history as a political movement — the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Carrying the dreams of millions who believed change was possible, ODM is arguably one of the most structured and formidable political parties in African politics.
That was the genius of Raila Odinga: he didn’t just do politics; he told stories.
He made ideas breathe. He could turn a proverb into a protest, a riddle into a revolution.
He could make even the weary smile through his rich blend of humour, parables, and the music of everyday speech.
That creative instinct; part poet, part prophet, made him not just a leader, but a legend.
Now, in his death, the same creativity that defined him has become the nation’s language of grief.
Across Kenya, artists have taken up their tools; pens, brushes, chisels, and keyboards to mourn the man who taught them that imagination is power.
Cartoonists have drawn him as a towering baobab whose fall has left the forest trembling.
Poets have called him the wind that refused to bow.
Designers have flooded timelines with digital candles, glowing with orange light.
But perhaps the most striking tribute lies in the hills of Tabaka, Kisii County, where soapstone sleeps under the soil, a patient storyteller in its own right.
At the Kisii Soapstone Art and Craft Centre in Nyabigege, an extraordinary artefact awaits its destiny, as reported by the Kenya News Agency (KNA) and other media outlets recently.
The sculpture is a five-kilogram masterpiece titled The Cycle of Life.
Daniel Ombasa Apepo who does soapstone business says the artwok was completed just two weeks before Raila’s passing.
It was meant as a gift for him.
“The crafting did not anticipate his death,” KNA quoted Apepo as saying.
“It was meant to allow him to reflect on his life through art.”
The soapstone tells Raila’s story through a sequence of engraved symbols: a baby for his birth, a book for his education, a football for youthful energy, and a heart for love and family.
A warrior with a shield represents courage and leadership; chains recall the years he spent in detention; a hammer and whisk symbolise authority; and an open hand marks his pursuit of peace and reconciliation.
“Raila always believed that the country was greater than any individual,” Apepo said.
“This artefact will help future generations understand his life and legacy in a nutshell.”
Beside it stands another carving; a family of giraffes, a tribute to Raila’s father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who often likened himself to the tall animal that sees far.
“The giraffe is visionary,” said Apepo.
“Jaramogi saw far, and Raila inherited that vision.”
In Tabaka, the stone tells his story while in Nairobi, cartoonists sketch it.
In the villages, poets sing it.
Kenya’s artists; his spiritual kin, are proving what Raila himself always knew: that creativity tells the truth better than any speech.
When punda imechoka, Raila said, it must speak.
In his exit, the donkey has spoken again, not through protest chants, but through art, sculpture, and song.
And in those creative echoes, the spirit of Raila Amolo Odinga lives on.
It is tireless, tender, and forever turning symbols into stories that move a nation.
-babahezel@gmail.com