On January 7, Raila marked 75 years, inviting congratulatory messages as he turned a year older from members of the public and leaders alike.
Among them was the Secretary of Innovation, Digital and Diaspora Communication in the Office of the President, Dennis Itumbi who in his birthday message, pointed out some events in the former Premier's political career.
In his message to the AU envoy, Itumbi highlighted that the 75 years he had spent on earth were notable of unpleasant encounters with the law and failed attempts at power.
"Happy Birthday Baba, Raila Odinga - 75 years is diamond. Yours is a fine diamond," Itumbi stated.
"It has been through, handcuffs, a failed coup, disguised escapes, torture, political losses and wins, stones, teargas, power and all that appertains being a diamond! Hope to read your memoirs someday!" he added.
His post elicited over 100 replies in a span of two hours with a number of netizens accusing the blogger of being used to soil the ODM leader's name.
"Nobody coerced you to wish Raila Odinga a happy birthday Ole Itumbi. Why do you view every man's progress with political lenses?" one user critiqued.
"Is this a happy birthday message or you have been told to write so and earn Ksh20k for the month?" another posed.
"You didn’t have to if you didn’t want to. I am sure Baba is doing fine without your wishes," Geoge Oduori remarked.
A section of netizens reacted to Itumbi, stating that what he intended as a sarcastic message actually brought out the statesman in the former premier arguing that the post communicated more positives than the alleged original intent.
"Here you are describing a liberator in many words. Liberation goes through a lot of processes, amongst those you've written," Twitter user by the moniker One user by the name Wycliffe replied.
"You knowingly avoided using the word liberation. That is what Baba has been all about," moniker @Kibet_Kibetu added.
