10/16/2025
𝐀 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐨𝐧. 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Not many men would spend their years,
Pouring sweat, blood, and tears,
For a dream beyond their own
A nation’s hope, a people’s home.
Not many men would give their prime,
Trading freedom, trading time,
For chains and cells in midnight’s gloom,
So others’ dreams could rise and bloom.
Not many hear the call of pain,
Yet walk back into fire again.
But Raila did, unbowed, unbent,
His life a torch of testament.
They locked his body, caged his voice,
But could not silence Kenya’s choice.
For every wall they built in fear,
He turned to bridges year by year.
He fought not for a throne of gold,
But ballots free, and truth retold.
He carved democracy’s mighty way,
So we could stand and speak today.
We mourn a lion, gone to rest,
But honour him in every breath.
His name, a covenant we keep,
A promise whispered when we weep.
Though earth may claim his mortal frame,
We march forever in his name.
A tribute by Ziana Otoyi
