October 15, 2025 | Editorial Feature
Raila Amolo Odinga’s story is not just a Kenyan story — it is an African story of resilience, rebellion, and restless hope.
Born of the independence generation yet defined by its unfinished struggle, Odinga lived and died a democrat in a continent where democracy itself remains under siege.
The news of his death at age 80 in Kerala, India, where he was receiving treatment, has struck Kenya and Africa like thunder — the silence that follows feels like the end of an era.
For half a century, Odinga was the conscience of Kenya’s political landscape: the agitator who refused to be silenced, the opposition leader who became prime minister but never president, and the elder statesman who never stopped believing in the transformative power of democratic struggle.
A Legacy Written in Struggle
Odinga’s life mirrored Kenya’s long and uneasy journey from colonial subjugation to independence, from autocracy to pluralism.
As the son of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice president, Raila inherited both a name and a mission — the relentless pursuit of justice.
Educated in East Germany, trained as an engineer, and tempered by imprisonment, he spent eight years in detention under Daniel arap Moi’s regime for daring to imagine a Kenya free from one-party domination.
His sacrifices helped birth multiparty democracy in 1991, and later, the 2010 Constitution, which restructured power and governance in Kenya.
For millions of Kenyans, Odinga was more than a politician — he was a movement, a living reminder that freedom demands vigilance.
The Perennial Candidate, the Eternal Reformer
He ran for president five times — 1997, 2007, 2013, 2017, and 2022 — and lost every time, often under circumstances that exposed the fragile legitimacy of Kenya’s electoral institutions.
The most violent of those contests came in 2007, when post-election protests escalated into ethnic and political bloodshed that claimed over 1,300 lives.
Yet from the ruins of that tragedy, Odinga rose to become Prime Minister under a fragile power-sharing government — an act of political maturity that steadied a nation on the brink.
It was Odinga who helped introduce devolution, judicial reform, and electoral oversight, reshaping Kenya’s governance architecture.
And even in defeat, he remained unbowed — his voice a thorn in the side of complacency, his rallies a ritual of defiance.
A Pan-Africanist at Heart
Beyond Kenya, Odinga was a voice for Africa’s restless democrats — those who, from Harare to Abuja, from Addis Ababa to Dakar, believe that the ballot must not bow to the bullet.
He stood with the reformers of South Africa’s post-apartheid era, dialogued with Nigeria’s Fourth Republic democrats, and challenged the creeping militarism that once again stalks parts of the continent.
In 2025, when Africa finds itself facing renewed coups, constitutional manipulations, and shrinking civic space, Odinga’s passing is not just a personal loss — it is a continental warning.
His death reminds us how few African leaders have dared to fight for democracy without betraying it.
The Man Behind the Politics
Odinga’s courage often came at great personal cost.
He was imprisoned, exiled, and vilified. He lost allies, elections, and friends.
Yet he remained undeterred — grounded in his Luo heritage, disciplined in his belief that Kenya could be reimagined.
Those who knew him describe a man who laughed loudly, read widely, and forgave easily.
He loved football, music, and conversation; he believed politics was not war but persuasion.
Even in his 70s, his energy was magnetic — his command of crowds unmatched.
In March 2025, when he signed a political pact with President William Ruto, it was not surrender but strategy — a statesman’s recognition that dialogue, not division, might yet redeem Kenya’s fragile democracy.
Africa’s Wound, Africa’s Hope
Across Nairobi, Kisumu, and Mombasa, his death has been met with tears, songs, and candlelight vigils.
From Ethiopia to South Africa, from Abuja to Accra, tributes have poured in for the man who symbolised the continent’s unfinished democratic project.
Kenya’s former Chief Justice David Maraga called him “a patriot, a pan-Africanist, a democrat who shaped the trajectory of our nation.”
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wrote, “Africa has lost a leading voice for peace, security, and development.”
Indeed, Africa has lost one of its moral anchors — a man whose name evoked both struggle and hope.
The Final Word
Raila Odinga’s passing leaves a vacuum not just in Kenya’s opposition but in Africa’s moral imagination.
He did not die as president, but he lived as a patriot.
He did not win the State House, but he helped build a nation that still believes it can be better.
In a continent where power too often outlives principle, Odinga’s journey stands as a defiant testament to integrity in public life.
“Democracy,” he once said, “is not a destination but a continuous fight to make the will of the people count.”
For Kenya — and for Africa — that fight must go on.
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Reporting by Naija247news in Lagos, Nigeria.
