A bow from stage for decorated Father of Democracy; a recap of Raila’s political journey

From his political strongholds countrywide, his supporters were inconsolable. They said death had dealt them a low blow. Many ran around town squares, blaring horns and carrying twigs to show their sorrow, while others sang dirges, bemoaning the cruel hand of the grim ripper that has robbed them of the steady hand, the ultimate leader, who led by example. 

The death of Raila took his supporters by surprise as his close allies and relatives had been keen to ward away any talk of Raila being gravely ill since he left the country over a week ago. Death has proven to be a sneaky thief.

When rumours of Raila being gravely ill began swirling around early October, when he departed the country, his close allies dismissed it. His brother Senator Oburu Odinga said he was unwell but was receiving treatment in India and would soon be back. 

It, therefore, was a big shock when it was reported today that Kenya’s Former Prime Minister and legendary opposition figure, Raila Odinga, is dead. He is reported to have suffered a cardiac failure during a morning walk in Kochi, India. 

Raila collapsed during a morning walk at the Ayurvedic eye hospital-cum-research centre in Kerala, after which he was rushed to Devamatha Hospital in Kerala, southern India. He was pronounced dead at 9 am on October 15, 2025. He was aged 80. 

Raila had been under treatment at the facility for the last five days, accompanied by his daughter Winnie Odinga and his personal doctor. A Kenyan delegation sent to collect his body arrives in Nairobi on Thursday morning, as his burial is slated for Sunday, October 19, 2025, at his Opoda Farm in Bondo, Siaya County.

Raila’s years

Raila Amolo Odinga was born in 1945 to the late stalwart of Kenyan opposition politics, Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga and the late Mary Juma Odinga. Raila’s father, Jaramogi, fondly referred to as the doyen of Kenya’s opposition politics, was a freedom fighter and Kenya’s first Vice-President under Jomo Kenyatta. 

He later fell out with Jomo Kenyatta and went on to lead the opposition for many years until his demise in 1994. Jaramogi played a big role in illuminating Raila’s path to politics and was indeed instrumental in Raila’s success in politics.

Raila began his basic schooling at Kisumu Union Primary, and later studied at Maranda High School for his secondary education. In 1962, he travelled to then East Germany to study at the Herder Institute. Raila was awarded a scholarship at the Faculty of Technical School in Magdeburg in 1965, at the University of Leipzig in East Germany.

He later graduated with a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1970. Raila, keen to hone his technical prowess, undertook short courses at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., the British Standards Institution, and the University of Denver, all based on quality control and standardisation.

On his return to Kenya in 1970, Raila landed a lecturing job at the University of Nairobi, School of Engineering, as an assistant lecturer from 1970 to 1974. 

Later, he established two local firms called Franz Schineis and Partners and the Standard Processing Equipment Construction and Erection Limited, later renamed the East African Spectre, a company that specialises in manufacturing liquid petroleum gas cylinders. His family has owned and run the firm to date.

Public Life

In 1974, Raila left the classroom for a job at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), where he was soon appointed to the position of Group Standards Manager and later promoted to the position of Deputy Director in 1978. 

Raila held this position until 1982, when he was detained without trial because of his perceived political overtures. 

Detention by Moi 

In 1982, Raila inadvertently burst into public limelight when, after the 1982 military mutiny, the government of Daniel Arap Moi placed him and a few other University lecturers in detention; his father, Jaramogi, was put under house arrest for 7 months. 

He was later charged with treason, but was thereafter summarily detained without trial for six years, during which time he lost his mother. Moi’s government ordered him released in February 1988, but he was arrested afresh in September 1988 and detained again. 

For the second time, Raila was released in June 1989, then locked up in detention the third time in July 1990. Detained together with him were Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia, multi-party activists who had kicked off the agitation for multi-party democracy after falling out with then-President Moi. Raila was released again in June 1991, and shortly afterwards, he fled to Norway to avoid further arrests. 

Elected MP

Raila quietly returned to Kenya in February 1992 and joined a political movement fronted by his father, Jaramogi, the “Forum for the Restoration of Democracy” (FORD). FORD, which later morphed into a political party, was instrumental in forcing Moi’s government to open up the democratic space in Kenya and, most crucially, force parliament to legislate a law that would eventually allow multi-party democracy and elections. 

Raila became FORD’s vice-chairman, General Purposes Committee. In 1993, bickering and competing interests saw the original FORD Party break into two factions, FORD and FORD-Kenya parties. In the 1992 general elections, Raila vied against Philip Leakey for the Langata Constituency seat on a Ford Kenya party ticket and won by a landslide.  

When his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, died in January 1994, aged 82 years old, Raila decided to contest against Michael Kijana Wamalwa for the party’s chairman position and lost. Shortly afterwards, he resigned from the Ford-Kenya party, resigned his parliamentary seat and joined the National Development Party (NDP).

He would later contest the Langata Constituency seat afresh through a by-election and won once more. Now a bona fide politician, Raila’s star shone bright as he took over his father's mantle, and with it a strong grip on Luo-Nyanza and beyond. 

Raila, unlike his Dad, Jaramogi, never held an elective seat in Luo-Nyanza in all his political life, despite it being his bedrock in politics. Raila, the politician, was cut from the same cloth as his dad, the late Jaramogi. 

Charismatic and ideological, his appeal would soon go beyond Luo-Nyanza as he sought and maintained tight political networks from Nyanza, Rift Valley, Western, Nairobi and Coast regions. He was set on going far, on the presidency.

Raila Contests Presidency for the first time

As sure as the sun would rise from the east, Raila contested the presidential elections of 1997 under the National Development Party (NDP) and came out third. NDP’s symbol was a tractor, and that soon earned Raila the nickname “Tinga”. However, despite the loss, he retained his Langata Constituency seat. 

A shrewd strategist, soon after, he stunned his followers by warming up to his erstwhile opponent, Moi, and what would soon follow astonished Kenyans. Raila teamed up with Moi and triggered a merger between his party, the NDP, and Moi’s KANU. 

Raila went on to serve in Moi’s cabinet as the energy minister from 2001 to 2002. In the subsequent internal KANU elections, Raila garnered the enviable position of the party’s Secretary-General, which was part of their pact during his party’s merger with KANU. 

However, things would take a dramatic turn in 2002, when Raila fell out with Daniel Moi within KANU after the latter endorsed Uhuru Kenyatta, perceived as a political greenhorn, as his preferred successor. 

Raila Odinga teamed up with other notable KANU members, such as the late George Saitoti, current Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, and the late Joseph Kamotho, to oppose and protest Moi’s preference for the then 38-year-old Uhuru Kenyatta, who was disparaged for not having contested or won a single political seat in the country. 

The self-declared KANU rebels almost imploded the wobbling independence party as they were ejected from the party in a huff when Moi stuck to his guns. As Moi’s rule drew to an end, the stakes were set so high, the country sat on edge as the 2002 general elections drew nigh. Would Moi be defied? It would be for the first time.

Rainbow Coalition

Raila and his team of rebels soon found a new political home in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The LDP later teamed up with the National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK) of Mwai Kibaki, which by itself was a coalition of several opposition parties. Together they formed the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) that would go on to deal the Uhuru Kenyatta-led KANU, a resounding defeat in the 2002 general elections. When the NARC coalition was set up, there were certain negotiations and memoranda of understanding that had passed hands, and so the Raila faction within NARC expected the new government to respect the pact, but to their dismay, the Kibaki presidency, once in power, chose to ignore the so-called MOUs. This elicited a cold war within the NARC government; the head did not know where the leg had been, literally.

It did not take long before the Raila–led LDP wing in NARC fell out with Mwai Kibaki’s faction in 2005. From a promising change-agent for the public, overnight, NARC became a house built on sand which every strong gale had a chance of blowing apart. 

The stakes grew higher when the first attempt to draw up a new constitution was “hijacked” by the Kibaki Administration, and it became a government project. A constitutional plebiscite was set up, and Raila’s side chose the symbol of an “orange” while the Kibaki side chose the “banana” symbol. A referendum followed, during which occasion, the Kibaki side was walloped. 

Things did not look good for Kibaki, and with the 2007 elections approaching, he dissolved his cabinet and, on its reconstitution, retained only his loyalists as he purged the Narc rebels, who were only too happy to form a new party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Raila’s political party until his demise. 

By this time, KANU of old was suffering a crisis of confidence, which saw Mudavadi and Ruto join Raila’s party even as Uhuru Kenyatta coalesced around Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU).

2007 post-election violence and the Constitution of Kenya 2010

As the 2007 elections came calling, the political tempo had reached a crescendo. It was a winner-take-it-all contest. When the polls kicked off, the incumbent party (PNU) lagged behind in tallying in most tallying stations until, at the last minute, specific tallying stations recorded almost perfect voter turnout, which handed Kibaki the victory. 

When the chairman of the electoral body, Samuel Kivuitu, finally announced Kibaki’s win and a hurried night-time swearing in, it became the straw that broke the camel’s back. Kibaki’s team chest-thumped their victory and dared Raila’s party to protest. Raila’s team called their bluff, as they bitterly contested the presidential election, and followers on both sides unleashed the deadliest yet, post-election violence. It took the lives of hundreds of Kenyans as others in their thousands were displaced, in and out of the country. 

It took the mediation of international players to bring the two parties to a round table. The late Kofi Annan headed the mediation talks that resulted in Raila’s inclusion in government as the Prime Minister, together with his team, which included current President William Ruto and Wycliffe Mudavadi. 

The resultant forcefully cobbled government was colloquially referred to as the “nusu-mkate” government, as both parties used to say they were entitled to a “half-loaf” of the government. The Kibaki-led government went on to deliver both the constitution of Kenya 2010, which was spearheaded by Raila, and later the first general elections under the Constitution of Kenya 2010 in 2013. 

It was during this term that Raila parted ways once more with William Ruto and Musalia Mudavadi, who teamed up with Uhuru, while Kalonzo Musyoka, among others, teamed up with Raila Odinga under the auspices of Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD). 

Raila's two-time contest against Uhuru 

Mwai Kibaki, having served his second term, was ineligible to vie in 2013, but as he retreated into retirement, he quietly backed Uhuru Kenyatta against Raila Odinga. The IEBC declared that Raila lost the 2013 presidential contest when he ran against Uhuru Kenyatta. Raila Odinga, in protest, alleged massive fraud and challenged the results of the "tainted election" in the Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court threw out his case, and Raila lamented the ruling by the Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Willie Mutunga, which upheld the National Alliance (TNA) coalition's win. Meanwhile, the victorious pair of Kenyatta and Ruto were set to face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the post-election violence that followed the 2007 polls. After several court appearances, they were eventually acquitted of the charges at the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands.

In 2017, Raila mounted a second attempt against the Uhuru-Ruto Jubilee Party. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared Jubilee Party the victors, but that was soon nullified by the Supreme Court after Raila’s National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition swiftly filed a successful petition at the Supreme Court challenging the poll results. 

Raila’s party, NASA, boycotted the repeat election held in October 2017, paving the way for Kenyatta to win the repeat elections, which saw the lowest voter turnout ever recorded in Kenya’s elections. Uhuru and Raila, talking behind the scenes, soon buried the hatchet and were soon involved in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) project, which sought to review the constitution, among other things. However, it never saw the light of day as the Supreme Court of Kenya shot it down, saying it was irregular, illegal and unconstitutional.

Raila loses to Ruto in 2022 

Ever indefatigable, Raila ran for president for the fifth time, a Kenyan record, in August 2022 but lost to former Deputy President William Ruto, who, according to IEBC, garnered 50.49 per cent of the vote against Raila Odinga's 48.85 per cent. 

Raila, never one to back off, challenged the results at the Supreme Court unsuccessfully. The court said it found no evidence of hacking and that no evidence was produced to show that IEBC chairman, the late Wafula Chebukati, and other IEBC staff were involved in election fraud. 

Raila protested but respected the court verdict. However, he soon mounted a spirited opposition against President Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza government’s excesses and missteps. He protested the high cost of living and corruption perceived to be at the core of the government, and he was the inspiration that sparked the Gen-Z protests in 2024 after his opposition-led protests in 2023. 

At the height of the Gen-Z protests, President Ruto reached out to Raila, and he agreed to join hands with him under the auspices of the broad-based government, which he supported until his demise. 

A keen Pan-Africanist, early in 2025, Raila Odinga’s quest for the chairpersonship of the African Union Commission (AUC) fell apart when he failed to secure the crucial two-thirds majority needed to clinch the prestigious position. He lost to Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.

It is human to die, but the possibility of Raila’s death was not one that many wanted to talk about until it happened. African sages are sacrosanct; to talk about their death is taboo and would be frowned upon, but the fact of life is… human beings all die; some soon, others later.

October 15, 2025, was Raila’s day to bow out from the stage, but alas! What a life-journey he had! Somehow, ever since his first detention, his life journey, his political alignments and realignments have always had an impact on the country. 

Raila brightened or dimmed the star for many leaders’ political careers, and alas! He leaves behind a bevvy of political orphans, many of whom have been thrown into a spin and might not find it easy staying on course.

Raila married Ida Oyoo Odinga, and together, they had 4 children. He remained a family man, fully involved, full of laughter and encouragement to his family, who always looked up to him. 

Raila, a five-time presidential contender, is credited with expanding the democratic space in Kenya. Jakom (chairman) receives credit for birthing the Constitution of Kenya 2010. 

He is regarded as the Father of Devolution. Charismatic and enigmatic, he was a walking riddle. What made him do so much in one lifetime? Raila was known to others as Tinga in the 90s, to some as Agwambo (the Enigma), yet to others as Baba (Father). 

The valiant son of Sakwa, Bondo, has taken the final bow… when a big tree falls, birds scatter. "Vēnit, vīdit, vīcit". He came, he saw, he conquered! Jowi! Jowi! Jowi! May his soul rest in eternal peace.