January challenges August as Kenya’s jinxed month
By Suba Churchill, January 24, 2025
Since 1963, when Kenya won independence from British colonial occupation, it’s been widely held that August is the jinxed month of death, tears and pain.
From deaths of prominent personalities to man-made disasters, Kenyans have come to associate August with some of its most terrible calamities – train accidents, road carnage, fires, drought, famine, mudslides and politically instigated killings.
It is in August that Kenya’s founding President Jomo Kenyatta died in 1978. Bishop Alexander Muge and Masinde Muliro also died in August 1990 and 1992 respectively. Kenya’s eighth vice-president, Michael Kijana Wamalwa, also died in August 2003.
The abortive coup of August 1, 1982 saw over 200 civilians and 100 soldiers killed, with economic losses estimated at Sh500 million in under 12 hours, resulting in two decades of political regression and socio-economic decline.
The twin terror attacks targeting American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on August 7, 1998, saw over 200 people perish and over 500 were injured in Kenya. Then emerging coastal political supremo and Cabinet minister, Karissa Maitha, also died suddenly on August 27, 2004, and so did Fr John Kaiser, who was murdered on August 24, 2000. Opposition firebrand and former Butere MP Martin Shikuku also died on August 22, 2012.
The above undeniably spotlights August as the month Kenya has gone through its most dreadful experiences year in, year-out, lending credence to the assessment it indeed could be Kenya’s jinxed month.
But proponents of this belief must now contend with January 2025 as having challenged, defied and almost torpedoed this widely held view altogether. The sheer number of deaths, especially of women in January 2025 is astronomical.
On 4 January, Kenyans woke up to the sad news of the passing of Roseline Odede: “It’s with shock and deep sorrow that I inform you of the demise of Roseline Adhiambo Odede, Chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) that happened [on] 3rd January 2025 after a short illness”, a statement from KNCHR vice chairperson Raymond Nyeris said.
Barely a week later, Kenyans were thrown into another heart-wrenching loss, this time of veteran journalist, Rasna Warah on January 11. But the grim ripper was not done yet. On January 14, another valiant human rights crusader, Judy Thongori died far a field in India, where she had gone for treatment.
Nyeris words on Odede’s passing were an understatement. Odede’s untimely death was not just “a big blow to the commission” but also to the legal and the human rights sectors as well. The three deaths were of individuals my primary school English teacher would have aptly described as ‘wonderful human beings’, and have left the human rights, media and legal fraternities poorer.
In 2024, Kenya National Civil Society Centre (KNCSC) had the privilege of working closely with Odede. After receiving numerous complaints from former employees of the Network of African Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI), the umbrella organisation of State human rights institutions on the continent, KNCSC petitioned the commission to invoke its powers under Article 59(2) (e) of the Constitution and “investigate the alleged abuses and take steps to secure appropriate redress where it would be confirmed that human rights have been violated”.
Odede forwarded the concerns to the current chairperson of NANHRI who is also the chairperson of Ghana’s Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Joseph Whittal on May 20, 2024, with the rider that “we had received a similar petition in July 2022 and forwarded the same to then NANHRI Chair Dr. Elaso Mugwadi but unfortunately, he did not take any action. The petitioner is still keenly pursuing the matter and we hope your good office will attend to it. The petitioner is copied herein for ease of reference”.
It emerged during her funeral that close friends and relatives fondly called Odede ‘Dhiambi’. Her actions on complaints about NANHRI despite KNCHR being a member of the regional network’s Steering Committee demonstrated her candour where human rights abuses and violations have been cited.
— The writer is the Executive Director of the Kenya National Civil Society Centre; suba_churchill@yahoo.com-