Ex-warder reveals content of Raila's letters from prison to Ida

John Mwavuda at his home in Ndelemani village in Taita Taveta County. [Renson Mnyamwezi, Standard]

When ODM leader Raila Odinga met a former prisons warder last week, it evoked memories of the struggle for expanded democratic space that was the multi-party politics of the 1980s and 1990s.

For those old enough to remember, there was a time in this country when opening your mouth to speak your mind was a detention or death wish. But one man, John Mwavuda, played his role quietly behind the walls of Manyani Maximum Security Prison in Taita Taveta County.