Raila Amolo Odinga is Kenya's most prominent opposition politician, having contested five presidential elections between 1997 and 2022. Born in 1945, he is the son of independence hero Oginga Odinga. Raila studied engineering in East Germany before returning to Kenya in the 1970s. He was detained without trial from 1982 to 1988 for alleged involvement in a coup plot, though he denied the charges. After his release, he became a key figure in the multiparty democracy movement, working with Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia. He served as Minister for Energy under Moi and later Prime Minister under Kibaki following the disputed 2007 election. Raila has led the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) since 2005 and has championed constitutional reform, devolution, and anti corruption efforts. Despite widespread support, he has never won a presidential election, with the 2007 and 2017 elections particularly controversial. In 2018, he famously shook hands with President Uhuru Kenyatta in what became known as "The Handshake."
See Also
Sources
- Raila Odinga. "The Flame of Freedom." Mountain Top Publishers, 2013.
- Branch, Daniel. "Kenya: Between Hope and Despair, 1963-2011." Yale University Press, 2011.
- Cheeseman, Nic. "Democracy in Africa." Cambridge University Press, 2015.