Sasah Mbote, a masseuse whose photo with ODM leader Raila Odinga went viral in 2019, says her life changed drastically because of the photo.
In an interview with YouTuber Lynn Ngugi, Mbote says she did not know taking a photo with the ODM leader will cause her immense trouble.
To her, taking the photo with Raila was just a random thing of a person meeting a celebrity.
"It was a normal day for me. In the evening, I went to a certain hotel to have a few bottles of beer. I wanted to have dinner but I looked at the time and saw it was late. So I called in the waiter and asked him to keep an eye on my table as I went to the washrooms," she said.
Mbote says it is while walking to the washroom that she spotted ODM leader Raila in a group of five men.
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She says Raila's presence struck her leading to her asking for a photo.
"I was like oh my God, Baba. He just appeared like someone who knows me. He said hi and I proceeded to the washroom. When I came back, I asked him if I could take a photo with him."
"I wanted to prove to my parents that I have met Raila. They would not believe I had met him without the photo."
Safina says businessman Jimmy Wanjigi, who was with Raila at the time, asked her to get her phone so that the photos can be taken.
Mbote says after Wanjigi took the photos, she shared them online not knowing the kind of reaction they would elicit.
According to her, a section of the people who reacted to the photo assumed she was Raila's side chick while others assumed she was being used by opposing political parties to ruin Baba
."When I switched on my phone, the messages wouldn't stop popping up. People were calling me all sorts of names. They said I had been paid to assassinate Baba's character."
She divulged it is her parents' care and comfort that enabled her to sail through the turbulent moments occasioned by the reactions to the photo.
"If my parents doubted my dignity, I would have taken my life."
