Raila Odinga was considered one of Kenya’s most influential and enduring political figures regardless of 5 unsuccessful presidential bids.
For years, the firebrand politician emerged as a staunch campaigner and defender of multi-party democracy – adored by near-fanatical supporters and vilified by a threatened political elite.
Fondly referred to as “Baba”, which means father, the veteran opposition chief died on Wednesday morning on the age of 80 in India, the place he had been receiving remedy for an undisclosed sickness.
His dying not solely marks the tip of an period for a towering pan-Africanist, but in addition leaves a big void in Kenya’s opposition because the nation heads in direction of the 2027 elections.
Though Odinga got here from a well-known Kenyan household, the political crown eluded him all through his decades-long profession – simply because it eluded his father, who served as vice-president after independence from the UK.
In 2022, Odinga made his fifth try on the presidency, having come closest to the highest job in 2008 when he was appointed prime minister in a coalition authorities.
In February, he misplaced the race to steer the African Union Fee to Djibouti’s overseas affairs minister.
Regardless of his political misfortunes, Odinga remained a political pressure so influential that successive Kenyan presidents struggled to manipulate simply with out his help.
Final 12 months, President William Ruto reached out to Odinga for a political deal that noticed opposition leaders appointed within the cupboard.
4 members of Odinga’s ODM occasion joined what’s now referred to as a “broad-based” authorities.
The transfer was seen by many as Ruto’s try to solidify his maintain on energy amid rising discontent together with his administration over its perceived failure to enhance the lives of poor folks, whereas elevating taxes closely.
Odinga confronted heavy criticism, particularly from the younger folks behind final 12 months’s anti-government protests, who accused him of betrayal. He insisted that he solely “donated” consultants to assist the president “save” the nation.
An avid soccer fan and supporter of English premier league membership Arsenal, Odinga got here from the Luo ethnic group – the fourth largest in Kenya.
He had a passionate following, and his adoring followers has nicknames for him like “Agwambo” (Act of God) and “Tinga” (Tractor) – drawn from his occasion image within the 1997 election.
His signature slow-motion dance to reggae tunes at rallies – popularly referred to as “The Raila Dance” – grew to become broadly imitated by many in social gatherings.
Within the 2022 presidential election, Odinga selected former Justice Minister Martha Karua as his working mate. This was broadly welcomed, because it was the primary time a presidential front-runner had chosen a feminine deputy.
Odinga was seen because the political inheritor to his father, Jaramogi Odinga, who was Kenya’s first vice-president after independence, however walked out of the federal government in 1966 after falling out with then-leader Jomo Kenyatta, whose son, Uhuru, went on to turn out to be president after the arrival of multi-party democracy within the East African nation.
Jaramogi Odinga favoured nearer ties with the Soviet Union and China, whereas Jomo Kenyatta most well-liked an alliance with the US and different Western powers.
Their variations worsened, with Jaramogi Odinga imprisoned for 18 months till he was launched in 1971.
Raila Odinga was additionally a former political prisoner, and holds the file for being Kenya’s longest-serving detainee.
His battle towards one-party dictatorship noticed him detained twice (from 1982 to 1988 and 1989 to 1991) throughout the rule of Jomo Kenyatta’s successor, Daniel arap Moi.
He was initially imprisoned for making an attempt to stage a coup in 1982, which propelled him on to the nationwide stage.
After multi-party democracy was launched a decade later, Odinga repeatedly failed in his try to win energy, typically saying he had been cheated of victory.
This led to one of many largest political crises in Kenya’s historical past, when about 1,200 folks died and hundreds fled their properties after Odinga was satisfied that then-President Mwai Kibaki stole the 2007 election.
After mediation talks led by former UN chief Kofi Annan, Odinga took the publish of prime minister in a coalition authorities, however his relationship with Kibaki was marred by what he referred to as “supremacy wars”.
Within the 2017 election, he misplaced to Uhuru Kenyatta on the poll field, however gained within the Supreme Court docket, which nullified the end result due to the widespread irregularities he had highlighted.
Odinga, nonetheless, boycotted the re-run, saying a degree enjoying discipline had not been created.
This paved the best way for the re-election of Kenyatta, whereas Odinga – reputed to be a grasp strategist and mass mobiliser – declared himself “the folks’s president” at an enormous rally within the capital, Nairobi.
His supporters heeded his name to boycott the massive variety of companies owned by the Kenyatta household to point out their anger on the president’s re-election.
The long-standing rivalry between Odinga and Kenyatta ended with a well-known handshake in 2018. It culminated with Kenyatta backing Odinga’s ultimate bid for the presidency in 2022.
Odinga was described as a devoted pan-Africanist who criticised what he referred to as neo-colonialism. He championed African unity, self-reliance and integration by the constructing of infrastructure like roads, serving because the African Union Excessive Consultant for Infrastructure Growth from 2018 to 2023.
He was additionally appointed by the African Union (AU) to mediate within the 2010-2011 political disaster that broke out in Ivory Coast after then-President Laurent Gbagbo refused to surrender energy after shedding to Alassane Ouattara in elections.
Nevertheless, his efforts did not resolve the stand-off, as Gbagbo rejected him as a mediator, accusing him of being biased in direction of Ouattara.
In his spare time, Odinga was seen within the health club, and taking walks in his neighbourhood in Nairobi, and in his village in Siaya in western Kenya.
He was born on 7 Januray 1945 in Maseno in Kisumu county, and studied in what was then East Germany, buying a grasp’s diploma in mechanical engineering in 1970.
Odinga was married to Mama Ida and collectively they’ve 4 youngsters – the late Fidel, Rosemary, Raila Junior and Winnie.
Fidel was named after Cuban chief Fidel Castro and Odinga as soon as defined that he had chosen the title as a result of his son was born on the peak of the Chilly Battle, and “Mr Castro was seen to be standing towards the US within the Vietnam battle”.
Odinga might have been important of US overseas coverage, however he championed the creation of a Western-style democracy in Kenya.
He’ll in all probability be best-remembered as one of many founding fathers of multi-party democracy in Kenya, even when he felt that the electoral system was so flawed that it denied him the chance to turn out to be president.
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