Raila Odinga
Raila Amollo Odinga is a Kenyan politician, and was, until November 23 2005 a Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Roads, Public Works and Housing. He was born in Nyanza Province of Kenya on 7 January 1945. He is the son of the first Vice President of Kenya Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. Mr Odinga is commonly called by his first name, 'Raila', due to an interesting coincidence: he was an MP together with his father in the Kenyan parliament for a while, and is currently an MP together with his brother, Oburu Odinga, in the same parliament.
Raila Odinga's early education was in Kenya, after which he qualified as an Engineer in Germany. On returning to Kenya, he worked as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi. He eventually quit the job to join parliament.
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Detention
After a failed coup attempt by elements of the Kenya Airforce in 1982, Raila Odinga was one of the politicians arrested for their opposition to the regime of then president, Daniel Arap Moi. He was accused of being behind the failed coup and was charged with treason. He was placed under house arrest for seven months, and then was detained without trial for six years. Released on February 6 1988, he was arrested again in September, 1988 for his involvement with the Kenya Revolutionary Movement (KRM), an underground organization pressing for multi-party democracy in Kenya, which was then a one-party state. Raila was released on June 12 1989, only to be incarcerated again on July 5 1990, together with Kenneth Matiba, and former Nairobi Mayor Charles Rubia. Raila was released on June 21 1991, and in October, fled the country to Norway alleging government attempts to assassinate him.
Multi-Party Politics
At the time of Raila's departure for Norway, the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD), a movement formed to agitate for the return of multi-party democracy to Kenya, was newly formed. In February 1992, Raila returned to join FORD, then led by his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. He was elected Vice Chairman of the General Purposes Committee. In the months running up to the 1992 General Elections, FORD split into Ford Kenya, led by Raila's father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, and FORD-Asili led by Kenneth Matiba. Raila became Ford-Kenya's Deputy Director of Elections.
When Jaramogi Oginga Odinga died in January 1994, and Michael Wamalwa Kijana succeeded him as FORD-Kenya chairman, Raila challenged him for the party leadership. He lost, and left FORD-Kenya to join the little known National Development Party (NDP). Raila transformed it into a vibrant political party, and led a massive walkout of MPs from FORD-Kenya, mostly from his Luo-Nyanza Province, into his new party. In the 1997 Langata constituency by-elections, occasioned by Raila's change of parties, he won by a large margin. He went on to beat FORD-Kenya in the 1997 General Elections, coming third after Moi and Kibaki respectively. Raila later on changed sides and became a supporter of Moi's government, and even led a merger between his party, NDP, and Moi's KANU party. After this, he served in the Cabinet, as Energy Minister, in the last Moi government. Raila hoped to succeed President Moi who was serving his last term. But in 2002, Raila's chances of becoming Kanu's presidential candidate died when Moi showed signs of leaning towards Uhuru Kenyatta – a son of Kenya's first president. Raila teamed up with Kalonzo Musyoka, George Saitoti, Joseph Kamotho, among others to form the Rainbow Movement in protest. They formed the Rainbow Movement, a cross-tribal coalition to front a common candidate for president in the 2002 elections.
The Rainbow Movement went on to form the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which later joined several other parties to form the National Rainbow Coalition, NARC. Raila signed a memorandum of understanding with Mwai Kibaki of NAK assuring him of constitutional changes to make him (Raila) a prime minister in less than 100 days should Narc win the elections. With this MoU, Raila and the Rainbow group rallied Kenyans to support Mwai Kibaki (who at the time was recovering from an accident and was hospitalised close to the end of the campaign period) who went on to win the election.
Dissent from within
President Kibaki did not appoint Raila Odinga Prime Minister on assuming office, but sought to sideline him. This led to an open rebellion and a split within the cabinet, which culminated in disagreements over a proposed new constitution for the country. The government-backed constitutional committee submitted a draft constitution that was perceived to weaken the proposed position of prime minister, concentrating power instead in an executive presidency. Raila Odinga opposed this, and when the document was put to a referendum on November 21, 2005, the government side lost to Raila's side by a 57% to 43% margin. Following this, President Kibaki sacked the entire cabinet on November 23, 2005.
In January 2006, Raila Odinga was reported to have told police that he believed his life was in danger, having received assassination threats[1].
Support
Raila Odinga commands reverential support from a large ethnic base, the Luo of Kenya, as well as from lower class urban youth all over the country. He is seen as a charismatic leader with excellent skills in mobilising grass root support. He is an indefatigable campaigner and during the referendum campaign was able to energise the team opposing the draft constitution through clever campaign tactics such as using the media to gain attention with the public. He has come to be seen as championing the interests of the common Kenyan at a time when corruption and tribalism are said to be rife within Kenya's ruling elite. His followers are now urging him to run for president himself in the upcoming elections in 2007. However he is also seen to be too polarising a candidate to have any chance of winning the middle class vote.
