Former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga has passed away in India after suffering a heart attack. The 80-year-old leader reportedly collapsed during his usual morning walk and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
Raila was born on 7th January 1945 in Maseno, then part of Kisumu District, to the late Mary Juma Odinga and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice president after independence in 1963.
He attended Kisumu Union Primary, Maranda Primary School in Bondo, and later Maranda High School, where he studied until 1962 before his father sent him to Germany for further studies.
In East Germany, Raila spent two years at the Herder Institution, part of the University of Leipzig, where he studied the German language. In 1965, he received a scholarship to the Technische Hochschule of Magdeburg (now part of Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg), from which he graduated in 1970 with a certificate in Welding.
During his time in East Germany, Raila often crossed into West Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie, where he would smuggle goods unavailable in the East and share them with friends — a small act of rebellion that mirrored his later political courage.
In 1971, Raila returned to Kenya and founded Standard Processing Equipment Construction & Erection Ltd, later renamed East African Spectre, the only company manufacturing liquid petroleum gas cylinders in Kenya.
By 1974, he had been appointed Group Standards Manager at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and later promoted to Deputy Director in 1978 — a position he held until 1982, when he was detained following the failed coup attempt against President Daniel arap Moi by junior Kenya Air Force officers.
Charged with treason, Raila spent six years in detention, from 1982 until 1988, and was later rearrested in 1990 alongside Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia for their role in advocating multi-party democracy and human rights. He was released on 21st June 1991, but fled to Norway shortly afterwards amid reports that the government was plotting to assassinate him.
While in exile, the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) was formed, pushing for the reintroduction of multi-party democracy. Raila returned to Kenya in February 1992 and joined FORD-Kenya, led by his father, Jaramogi. He was elected vice chairman of the party’s General Purposes Committee and later won the Lang’ata Constituency parliamentary seat in the 1992 General Election, marking his entry into national politics.
After his father’s death in 1994, Raila lost the FORD-Kenya leadership contest to Michael Wamalwa Kijana. He then resigned from the party and joined the National Development Party (NDP), under which he contested the 1997 presidential election, finishing third behind President Moi and Mwai Kibaki, while retaining his Lang’ata seat.
In 1998, Raila shocked many of his supporters by merging NDP with Moi’s ruling KANU party. Critics accused him of betraying the democratic cause, yet he justified the move as strategic. He was appointed Minister for Energy in 2001 and later became KANU’s Secretary-General.
However, Raila fell out with Moi in 2002 after Moi controversially endorsed Uhuru Kenyatta as his successor. Raila, together with Kalonzo Musyoka, George Saitoti, and others, opposed the move and left KANU to form the Rainbow Movement, which later joined Mwai Kibaki’s National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK) to create the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC).
In a unifying gesture, Raila famously declared “Kibaki Tosha” (“Kibaki is sufficient”), endorsing Kibaki’s presidential bid. NARC won a historic landslide victory, ending KANU’s four-decade rule.
After Kibaki assumed office, Raila accused him of betraying a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that had promised the LDP faction half of the Cabinet positions and the creation of a Prime Minister’s post. This fallout eventually led to the 2005 constitutional referendum, in which Raila led the “No” campaign under the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) banner — the “Orange” symbolising rejection of the proposed constitution.
In subsequent years, Raila became synonymous with the struggle for good governance and electoral justice. Following the 2007 disputed elections, Kenya descended into post-election violence, after which a power-sharing deal saw Raila become the Prime Minister under President Mwai Kibaki from 2008 to 2013.
Raila contested the 2013, 2017, and 2022 presidential elections. In 2017, after disputing the results and boycotting the repeat poll, he was symbolically sworn in as “The People’s President” — a bold act that later led to the historic “Handshake” with President Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2018. The truce birthed the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), aimed at fostering unity and constitutional reforms, though it was later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
In 2022, with Uhuru Kenyatta’s backing, Raila made his fifth presidential bid but narrowly lost to William Ruto.
Following the 2024 Gen Z protests, Raila joined hands with President Ruto to form a broad-based government to stabilise the nation and promote inclusivity.
On 15th October 2025, while in India for medical treatment, Raila Odinga suffered an acute heart attack during his morning walk and passed away.
Raila Odinga leaves behind his beloved wife, Mama Ida Odinga, their three children, and several grandchildren.
A fearless freedom fighter, statesman, and reformist, Raila Odinga’s legacy will endure as one of Kenya’s most iconic political figures—a man who dedicated his life to democracy, justice, and the unity of his nation.
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