Raila Amollo Odinga passed on this week on Wednesday 15, Morning in India where he had gone for treatment.
According to one of the doctors who attended to Raila before his untimely demise, he was suffering from various ailments but at long last succumbed to cardiac arrest.
The former Premier, until the time of his demise was an active politician, who inadvertently and visibly shaped Kenya's political angle.
Raila Odinga has been a veteran politician having survived and manoeuvering through the Governments and regimes thereby becoming indomitable in the line of politics. The former Prime Minister as a character in Kenya's political history, has been understandably witty, ingenious, mysterious something that made him be epitheted in various names such as Enigma, Baba, Agwambo, Tinga, hummer(nyundo), jakom among other names just to epitomize his character.
Raila Odinga, run for presidential elections but never got a chance to be elected and would usually clinch the first runner's up making him to be presumably the chief opposition leader. However, his political journey has been always marred with having sever relationship with the security department of the country as he would use mass of followers to demand for justice and transparency especially after the elections.
Odinga as a fiery critic to the government, would later unite with government of the time to settle their differences and forget their past as he would claim 'for the peaceful state of the nation' and sometimes he would quote Kenya is bigger than one individual.
His journey of working with the Governments or perhaps his tendency of shaking hands with the presidents of the time did not begin with the current Kenya Kwanza Government but it dates back to 2007 after post election violence, he shook hands with his contentious competitor, the Late President Mwai Kibaki by deposing his hard stand, this handshake was christened as 'nusu mkate' and through this he became the Prime Minister after the reconciliation. During the nusu mkate regime, they engendered the new constitution which is functional to this day.
In 2013, he joined the race to be Kenya's President under the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) Alliance, with ODM ticket, unluckily he became second after Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, the duo ruled successfully until 2017, where they retained.
During the second tenure, it is when Raila shook hand with the then President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, which made Uhuru's deputy to be bile.
The last handshake Raila had with the Government was with the current Kenya Kwanza government.
Besides being a handshake master, Odinga was the Member of Parliament for Lang'ata between 1992 and 2013. He was also fond of fighting impunity, advocating for democracy and freedom as this dates back to single party era in the KANU regime.
Inasmuch, Odinga might be seen as a thorn in the ass to every government of the day during his times of activism by staging demonstrations countrywide, he was not truculent as it may be perceived he would bend his principles for peace to prevail.
He has not only survived torture, teargas, bullets but as well the worst that come along with being on the bad books of the government.
As the last page of Odinga's life is being read, the country is clouded in grief and shock, various leaders have condoled with the family and eulogised him as a democratic campaigner, freedom fighter, alongside other praises for Odinga. His death has sparked a lot of reactions from the local leader, regional to International leaders such as Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India and the former president of USA Barrack Obama.
The doors are shut, the curtains have fallen and darkness is what remains, however, Odinga's legacies are immortal and remains indelible within the Kenyans political sphere and Africa at large.
The President of Kenya as away of eulogizing the late honourable Odinga announced a seven-day mourning period while flags will be hoisted half mast until the day of his interment as he joins the list of people accorded state burial making him heroic.
The late Raila Amollo Odinga, will be inhumed on Sunday 19, October 2025 with only few guest and dignitaries expected to be at the site, Kang'o Kajaramogi.
Rest in Peace Baba.
By OKECH DON
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