Raila Odinga's Biography: Man who helped rule Kenya without being president

For more than half a century, Raila Amolo Odinga has been a central, inescapable figure in Kenya's political narrative. 

He is an enigma: a firebrand revolutionary who became a prime minister, a political detainee who became a pillar of the establishment, and an heir who built a career as the champion of the common person. 

To his millions of fervent supporters, he is "Baba" (Father), "Agwambo" (The Mysterious One), a quasi-messianic figure who has fought tirelessly for democracy, justice, and constitutional reform. 

To his detractors, he is a master of political mobilisation whose unyielding pursuit of the presidency has, at times, tested Kenya’s democracy. 

Having contested the presidency five times without a win, his journey is a dramatic, epic tale that is inextricably woven into the very fabric of the modern Kenyan state. 

This is the story of the man who has shaped Kenyan politics more than any other figure without ever ascending to its highest office.

Early Life and Political Awakening

Raila Odinga was born on January 7, 1945, in Maseno, a town in Kenya's Nyanza Province. Politics was his birthright. 

His father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, was a figure in the struggle for independence and Kenya's first Vice President under Jomo Kenyatta. 

The elder Odinga’s subsequent fallout with Kenyatta and his championing of opposition politics created a powerful dynasty that would define the ideological and ethnic contours of Kenyan politics for generations.

This political inheritance shaped Raila's formative years. He received his early education in Kenya before proceeding to East Germany in 1965, where he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical School, Magdeburg. 

Upon his return, he established a manufacturing company, Spectre International and later joined the University of Nairobi as a lecturer. 

However, the repressive political climate under President Daniel arap Moi’s one-party KANU regime soon drew him into the clandestine world of pro-democracy activism.

The Detainee

The 1980s were a dark period in Kenya, marked by political repression and the crushing of dissent. 

Raila's open criticism of the Moi regime made him a target. In 1982, following a failed coup attempt against Moi, he was accused of treason and imprisoned without trial. 

He would spend the better part of the next decade in and out of detention, including a brutal six-year stretch in solitary confinement.

His time in detention transformed him from a political scion into a hardened symbol of resistance. 

These years of suffering became a cornerstone of his political identity, earning him immense credibility among those who yearned for a more open society. 

His release in 1988 was brief; he was detained again in 1990 and 1991 for his role in the growing movement for multi-party democracy.

The Second Liberation and Political Rise

The early 1990s saw the dawn of Kenya's "Second Liberation." Alongside other notable figures like Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia, Raila became a leading voice in the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD).

FORD was a pressure group that successfully pushed President Moi to repeal Section 2A of the constitution, reintroducing multi-party politics in 1991.

When FORD inevitably splintered, Raila sided with his father's faction, FORD-Kenya. 

He was elected Member of Parliament for Lang'ata constituency in 1992, a seat he would hold for two decades. This marked his formal entry into elective politics.

His first presidential bid came in 1997, where he finished third after Moi and Mwai Kibaki. 

In a move that shocked both allies and opponents, Raila merged his National Development Party (NDP) with the ruling KANU party in 2001, joining the very government he had fought against. 

He argued it was a strategic move to reform the system from within, but critics branded it a betrayal. 

The alliance was short-lived. When President Moi anointed Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of his old rival, as his successor, Raila led a mass exodus from KANU, forming the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

King Maker and The Prime Minister

In 2002, Raila played the role of kingmaker. His famous declaration, "Kibaki Tosha!" (Kibaki is enough!), rallied a united opposition behind Mwai Kibaki, who overwhelmingly won the presidency, ending KANU's 40-year grip on power. 

However, this National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) soon crumbled over a broken pre-election promise to create a Prime Minister post for Raila.

Odinga also fell out with Kibaki over the proposed new constitution that was rejected in a referendum in 2005. The movement to reject the constitution was led by Odinga and signalled the emergence of the Orange Democratic Movement. 

Raila and other senior Cabinet members were fired as Kibaki sought to consolidate power and kick out opposition from within. 

This fallout set the stage for the most consequential election in Kenyan history. In 2007, running under the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) banner, Raila faced incumbent President Kibaki. 

When the Electoral Commission of Kenya declared Kibaki the winner amid widespread allegations of rigging, the country erupted. The ensuing post-election violence was the darkest chapter in independent Kenya's history, resulting in over 1,300 deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands.

International mediation led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan resulted in the National Accord.

As part of the power-sharing deal, Raila Odinga became Kenya's second Prime Minister in April 2008, a position he held until 2013. 

During his tenure, he played a key role in the passage of Kenya's progressive new Constitution in 2010, a landmark achievement that devolved power and established a bill of rights.

He would continue to have a strained relationship with Kibaki’s government, which he accused of undermining his role. One key point of contention was whether his position was above that of the vice president and whether he would lead government business in Parliament. 

Aluta Continua

He ran for president again in 2013, losing to Uhuru Kenyatta. His legal challenge to the results was dismissed by the Supreme Court. 

In 2017, leading the National Super Alliance (NASA), he again faced Kenyatta. In a historic and unprecedented ruling in Africa, the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice David Maraga, annulled the presidential election results, citing massive illegalities and irregularities. 

Odinga boycotted the subsequent repeat election, claiming the electoral commission had not been reformed, and Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner.

His fifth attempt was in 2022, this time with the backing of his former rival, outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, under the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition. 

He narrowly lost to William Ruto. True to form, he challenged the results at the Supreme Court, which ultimately upheld Ruto's victory.

Following the Supreme Court's affirmation of William Ruto's victory in September 2022, many observers speculated that Raila Odinga, then 77, might finally step back from frontline politics.

Such predictions proved premature. Instead of retiring, Odinga embarked on one of the most remarkable and unexpected chapters of his career, transitioning from a domestic opposition firebrand to a continental statesman.

His initial post-election phase followed a familiar script. Throughout the first half of 2023, Odinga reassumed his role as the chief antagonist to the government.

Citing a crippling cost of living crisis, punitive tax hikes in the controversial Finance Act 2023, and unresolved questions about the 2022 election's transparency, he called for mass protests, or "maandamano." The ensuing demonstrations brought several cities to a standstill, leading to violent confrontations between protestors and police, disrupting the economy, and raising political temperatures to a boiling point.

This period of intense pressure culminated not in capitulation, but in negotiation. The protests paved the way for the establishment of the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO), a bipartisan body co-chaired by leaders from his Azimio la Umoja coalition and President Ruto's Kenya Kwanza alliance.

In 2024, he announced his candidacy for the position of Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), a role previously held by figures like Moussa Faki Mahamat.

The most significant aspect of this bid was its chief supporter: President William Ruto. In a dramatic reversal of their bitter rivalry, the Kenyan government threw its full diplomatic weight behind Odinga's campaign.

This unlikely alliance was seen as a masterstroke of political pragmatism. For President Ruto, it offered a chance to elevate Kenya's international profile while transitioning his most formidable domestic rival to the continental stage.

For Odinga, it provided the state machinery and legitimacy crucial for a successful campaign.

He would, however, lose to Mahmoud Ali Youssouf from Djibouti.

Gen Z Movement and Broad-Based Government

The broad-based government emerged from the political shock of mid-2024. After weeks of nationwide, youth-led protests over the Finance Bill 2024 and governance, President William Ruto dismissed almost his entire Cabinet on July 11, 2024, and said he would consult widely to form a more inclusive administration.

Those consultations evolved into formal talks with the opposition. President Ruto then appointed Odinga's key allies to his Cabinet.

President Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga later signed a memorandum of understanding at Nairobi’s KICC, setting out a framework to govern cooperatively, which State House and the parties described as a broad-based government.

The MoU aimed to lower political temperatures, broaden representation, and create room to tackle economic and governance reforms together.

Controversies and Criticisms

Throughout his career, Raila Odinga has faced his share of controversies. Critics accuse him of employing populist politics that have, at times, exacerbated ethnic divisions. 

The violence following the 2007 election remains a dark chapter, with opponents holding him partly responsible for the turmoil, an accusation he has always denied, blaming the violence on a stolen election.

His political manoeuvres, particularly his 2018 "Handshake" with President Uhuru Kenyatta, have been viewed with suspicion. 

While supporters saw it as a statesmanlike act to cool political temperatures, critics saw it as a self-serving deal that effectively killed the opposition and shielded the government from accountability. 

The subsequent push for constitutional changes through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) was criticised as an attempt by the political elite to create more executive positions, a move that was eventually halted by the courts.

Legacy and Influence

Raila Odinga's legacy is complex and multifaceted. He has never been president, yet few have shaped Kenya's political landscape as profoundly as he has. 

His primary legacy lies in his relentless fight for democratic space and constitutional reform. 

From the trenches of the "second liberation" to his role in delivering the 2010 Constitution, he has been a consistent force pushing for greater accountability, human rights, and devolution of power.

He is a master political strategist, able to mobilise mass followings and build formidable, though often fragile, political coalitions. 

He has nurtured a generation of leaders, and his ODM party remains a dominant force in Kenyan politics.

However, his five failed presidential bids also form a core part of his story, raising questions about his strategy and his inability to break through the final barrier to state power. 

He remains an enigmatic figure, a man who has been at the centre of Kenyan politics for a lifetime, a freedom fighter who has also wielded immense power, an outsider who became the ultimate insider, and a leader whose final chapter in an epic political saga came to a close on October 15, 2025, when he passed away in India.