Tribute to Gerald Otieno Kajwang’, the Senator no one dared to ignore

I write today to mourn Senator Gerald Otieno Kajwang’ of Homa Bay. Otieno Nyakwar Nyakwamba. Otieno DeLoks, as I used to call him, meaning “Okil Kamaloka”, which in Dho-Luo simply means “the lawyer who can turn everything around, so even a lie becomes the truth.”

Mourning somebody who has passed on in Luo culture is more than just weeping. There are ingredients of mourning which accompany others like praising, remembering the past, celebrating the life, chasing away the evil spirits which bring bad luck (hence “tero buru”) and coming together with relatives and friends to say goodbye at burial time.