Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga passes on at 80

Former Kenyan Prime Minister and opposition leader Raila Odinga has died at the age of 80. His demise has marked the end of an era of an influential career in Kenyan politics that spanned decades. A scion of eminent political family of Odingas.

Odinga had been receiving treatment in India prior to his death at an Ayurvedic treatment center. This is according to reports by Reuters.

In a long career in opposition, he contested five presidential elections, losing at each turn in what many observers believed were controversial losses,with two of those contests igniting political violence and national unrest over claims of rigging against Odinga which forced his supporters to the streets in protest.

Despite never securing the presidency, Odinga was widely regarded as a champion of democracy and political reform.

His work as a democracy activist helped bring about two of the country’s most significant milestones: the introduction of multiparty democracy in 1991 and the adoption of a new constitution in 2010. Both reforms reshaped Kenya’s political system and strengthened democratic institutions across the country.

Odinga played a central role in leading protests after the disputed 2007 election, which resulted in the most serious episode of political violence in Kenya since independence. The unrest left roughly 1,300 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes. His leadership during these crises cemented his reputation as a steadfast, if polarizing, figure in the nation’s political discourse.

Throughout his career, Odinga remained a vocal critic of government corruption and a persistent advocate for social justice and reform. He often positioned himself as a voice for marginalized communities and sought to hold successive administrations accountable.

Odinga’s death is expected to have a profound impact on Kenyan politics, particularly within the opposition, where he served as a mentor and a unifying figure for younger politicians. National leaders and international figures have begun expressing condolences, highlighting his enduring influence on Kenya’s democratic development.

Raila Odinga was born on January 7, 1945, in Maseno, Kisumu District, Nyanza Province, to Mary Juma Odinga and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice president.

A member of the Luo ethnic group, he attended local schools before moving to East Germany in 1962, where he studied at the Herder Institute and later at the Technische Hochschule in Magdeburg, earning a certificate in welding in 1970.

Returning to Kenya, Odinga founded a company manufacturing liquid petroleum gas cylinders and later joined the Kenya Bureau of Standards, rising to deputy director. His political career began amid Kenya’s authoritarian era; he was detained multiple times following the 1982 attempted coup and for his pro-democracy activism, earning nicknames like “Agwambo” and “Jakom.”

Odinga played a pivotal role in the fight for multiparty democracy, joining FORD-Kenya and later the National Rainbow Coalition, which helped elect Mwai Kibaki in 2002. He formed the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and ran unsuccessfully for president five times.

In 2018, he struck the historic “handshake” with President Uhuru Kenyatta, giving rise to the Building Bridges Initiative. He also served as African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development.