Raila Odinga, the influential Kenyan statesman who served as prime minister and repeatedly sought the nation’s highest office, has passed away at age 80. His political career spanned decades and left an indelible mark on Kenya’s democratic development.
Born into a prominent political family in 1945, Odinga followed in the footsteps of his father, Oginga Odinga, an independence movement leader who became Kenya’s first vice president. The younger Odinga’s educational journey took him to East Germany, where he studied mechanical engineering before returning to teach at the University of Nairobi.
Odinga’s political path saw him contest the presidency five times between 1997 and 2022. His most consequential electoral challenge came in 2007, when disputed results triggered widespread violence that threatened to tear the nation apart. The crisis prompted international mediation led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, resulting in a power-sharing agreement that made Odinga prime minister under President Mwai Kibaki.
This political compromise, though controversial, ushered in a period of relative stability and represented a breakthrough in Kenya’s often tense ethnic politics. Odinga, a member of the Luo community, and Kibaki, from the historically dominant Kikuyu group, managed to work together despite their differences.
Throughout his career, Odinga experienced multiple detentions during Kenya’s one-party era before finding his political footing with the return of multiparty democracy in 1992. His personal life reflected complex contrasts—a born-again Christian who opposed homosexuality yet named his children after revolutionary figures Fidel Castro and Winnie Mandela.
After his term as prime minister ended in 2013, Odinga remained active in public life, serving as the African Union’s high representative for infrastructure development and promoting democratic principles internationally. His symbolic handshake with former rival Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018 came to represent a commitment to national unity.
Odinga is survived by his wife, Ida, and three of their four children. His legacy includes a 1,040-page autobiography and a Kenya that many observers note has become more stable and measured in its politics than when he first entered public life.
