Kakamega: The death of Raila Amolo Odinga has brought the curtains down on the political career of a man known for many decades as a champion of democracy and master of the political chessboard. Kenyans and world leaders have come together to mourn the passing of the former Prime Minister, a man who strode Kenya's political arena like a colossus. Odinga, who died on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, while undergoing treatment at a hospital in India, was aged 80. His death has ignited a nationwide wave of mourning for a man widely regarded as Kenya's most influential political leader and reformist.
According to Kenya News Agency, Raila Odinga was fondly known by the moniker 'Baba', meaning father. For more than four decades, he remained the enigma of Kenyan politics, a man who possessed enormous power yet was not formally in power, and a master of political handshakes. His political career began in earnest in the early 1980s, and in the 90s, he began his intense fight against what he considered authoritarianism during the reign of the late President Daniel Arap Moi. His activism landed him in lengthy detentions without trial, including a six-year stint after the attempted 1982 coup. He was accused of involvement in the plot, though the charge was later dropped.
Raila was detained again several times for his pro-democracy agitation, forcing him to flee into exile in Norway in 1991. Raila played a pivotal role in the movement christened the 'second liberation', which agitated for the repeal of Section 2A of the Constitution in 1991, paving the way for Kenya to revert to a multi-party democracy. Despite his perennial loss in his five-time bid to capture the Presidency, Odinga's political career is punctuated by these efforts.
In 1997, he ran on a National Development Party (NDP) ticket and finished third after the late Daniel Arap Moi and the late Mwai Kibaki. In 2007, Odinga contested the presidency on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party ticket in a hotly contested poll where incumbent Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner, but the disputed results led to post-election violence. A power-sharing deal was negotiated with then-President Mwai Kibaki, following which Odinga was appointed Prime Minister (2008-2013).
In 2013, running under the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) ticket, Raila was the runner-up, losing to Uhuru Kenyatta but contested the results in the Supreme Court, which upheld Uhuru's victory. In 2017, running under the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition, he again emerged as the runner-up and petitioned the outcome, which the Supreme Court nullified, but he boycotted the repeat election. In 2022, he ran on the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition and again emerged as runner-up. He contested the results in the Supreme Court, but the Court upheld President William Ruto's win.
Raila Odinga's enduring legacy has positioned him as a political mobilizer, a democratic icon, and as the father of modern Kenyan democracy. His decades-long participation in politics spanning detention, coalition building, and constitutional reform established him as an institution and a consequential figure in Kenya's modern political history.