Millie Odhiambo: Beauty, Brains, Brawn

Millie Odhiambo addressing the members of public

 Millie ‘Gesa Gesa’ Odhiambo is a woman with no chills and equally no apologies for her agility and tenacity – men do you agree?

Where does one start from without veering off course with a personality larger than life? Would it be proper to mention trivialities and proclivities at the expense of glaring achievements? Either way, it is a humbling experience.

Perhaps a proper introduction would work the magic. Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona is a force to reckon with in the Kenyan and frankly regional political sphere. The political fire that burns fiercely in her was ignited formatively at her ingénue age of 13.

She stands out as a tore leader who does not cower at the sight of intimidation; rather, sticks up for her own – the defenseless majority; often children and women in the society. It is no wonder that she is the founder of an organization that promotes and defends the rights of children.

Millie Odhiambo (left), Raila Odinga (center) and the late Francis Nyenze (right) walking from a meeting

 As sure as the warmth in her vocals the words aye and nay, at a parliamentary proceeding, or elsewhere mean exactly as she says. She is never one to mince her words or vainly utter them.

Do not mistake her firm stance to impute a platitudinous character on her, she can be fun too. There is never a dull moment when you are with her; she will crack you up with subtle jokes and tear you apart with her gentle humor – how do you think she became Madam Gesa Gesa?

To an average reader, this attempt to decode the character of Millie would appear to butter her up and so raise factuality concerns considering previously mentioned statements. It so behooves me to capture the following factual statements about her.

As a scholar and an attorney at law, Millie has been credited with the YMCA Democracy Award and the Eve Women of the Year for Human Rights and Gender and had the privilege of serving as a delegate during the drafting process of the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

It is also worthy of note that her passion towards service to humanity made her pursue a Bachelors degree in Law and a further Masters program in Public Interest Law on human rights and humanitarian law from the University of Nairobi and the New York University respectively.

Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there – if these words would apply to her, what would we make of her character? Exemplary? You be the judge of that.

Would Millie’s shoes give a better account of her sacrifices? Would her shoes fit if you tried them on? – Apologies to my average readers. Here lies the answer, NO. What she has done and had to forgo, we cannot match.

Oscar Wilde once said, Sei du selbst; alle anderen sind schon vergeben that’s German for ‘Be yourself; everyone else is already taken’ – so is Madam Gesa Gesa. The best we can do is draw inspiration, there is so much to learn, people.

Millie Odhiambo addressing supporters at a rally flanked by Gladys Wanga, Babu Owino and former Nairobi Mayor Aladwa

 Life has not been one big kumbaya moment for her - just as it isn’t with you too. But she has learned to grow a thick skin. Do you remember a few months ago her house was torched by some hostile critics? What about the times she was threatened? And the time before that when she was abused for having borne no child?

Just like the venom of the viper that does nothing to the back of the tortoise, Millie’s enemies have had to devise and plot newer traps to get back at her, mudslinging her but she remains above it all.

Remember the time she was purportedly undressed by colleagues in parliament, what did she do – she ‘helped’ them undress her and when she was asked she said that she was not about to let them wield the power of embarrassment over her.

Today is just the perfect day to remember Women like Hon. Millie Odhiambo – and all the women who have had to stand their ground in times of adversity. Happy International Women’s Day.