Surprises and setbacks in Raila’s journey to the House on the Hill

President Uhuru Kenyatta with Raila Odinga during the commissioning of the Kenya Shipyards Limited at Mtongwe Naval Base in Mombasa. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

ODM leader Raila Odinga’s political journey has been marked by setbacks and surprise rebirths.

Four times, State House has eluded him and last week he announced his intention to vie for the fifth time, in a colourful event at Kasarani Sports Centre, Nairobi, a venue where in 2002, he led a group that had split from Kanu.

Born on January 7, 1945, Raila is credited with playing a key role in the fight for Second Liberation that saw the repeal of Section 2 (a) of the Constitution in December 1991, allowing for multi-party democracy.

He made his debut in politics in the 1970s after leaving employment at the Kenya Bureau of Standard (KeBS) as deputy director in 1978, previously having been a lecturer at the University of Nairobi.

He then became integral in the push for reforms. In 1982, he was accused of plotting to topple President Daniel arap Moi’s government in the failed coup on August 1.

Raila was placed under house arrest for seven months after evidence seemed to implicate him along with his late father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga for collaborating with the coup plotters. He was imprisoned without trial for six years. He was released in February 1988 only to be rearrested and put back in jail.

After the release, he fought alongside the late Martin Shikuku, late Kenneth Matiba, late Charles Rubia and the late Masinde Muliro, among others. This is after Matiba and Rubia called for the first Saba Saba rally at Kamukuni grounds against a government ban on July 7, 1991.

The two were arrested for campaigning against one-party rule. Fearing another arrest, Raila sought refuge in Norway.

Raila Odinga, Michael Wamalwa and Manasses Kuria at Ford Kenya rally in Thika, April 1996. [File, Standard]

This is after he sought refuge at the US embassy before negotiations were hatched to sneak him to Mukhisa Kituyi’s residence at Mountain View estate. He then left Kenya through Uganda. He returned to Kenya and was elected to Parliament under the banner of the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy–Kenya (Ford–K), his father’s party.

After Jaramogi’s demise in 1994, Raila became embroiled in a leadership battle within the party with the late Kijana Wamalwa.

In 1996, he left Ford–K and joined the National Development Party (NDP). In 1997, the former PM contested the presidency but was unsuccessful. In 1998, Raila initiated talks with Moi through his ally, the late Mark Too. Raila and NDP gave their support to Moi and joined Kanu after the parties merged. He was elected as the Kanu Secretary General, and appointed Energy minister.

In July 2002, however, Moi, while in Kapsokwony in Mt Elgon, in the presence of his then vice president George Saitoti, settled on Uhuru Kenyatta as his preferred successor, thus edging out Raila who was at an event in Makindu town.

When asked about the new developments, Raila responded: “We will cross the bridge when we reach there as Kanu delegates are to decide.”

Shattered hopes

Raila’s hopes were shattered and during the delegates meeting at Kasarani when Moi called upon the party to support Uhuru, he led a walk out, resulting into Kanu A, B and C. The group formed Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which later joined Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu’s National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK), Wamalwa’s Ford Kenya and Kibaki’s Democratic Party (DP) to form the National Rainbow Alliance (NARC).

In 2002, Raila endorsed Kibaki by declaring ‘’Kibaki Tosha’’ and NARC won. In 2005, Raila differed with Kibaki over constitutional reforms, after the latter’s allies led by the late John Michuki argued that the problem was Moi and not the Constitution. Raila had been promised the post of Prime Minister. He led the campaign against the 2005 referendum for a new Constitution and his Orange team won against Kibaki’s Banana.

This led to the birth of the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K), which would later be taken over by Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka through Makueni MP Dan Maanzo.

Left without a party on whose ticket he could contest, Raila approached lawyer Mugambi Imanyara who had registered Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). In 2007, he made the second bid for the presidency leading to the disputed result after Kibaki, running on a Party of National Unity Party (PNU) ticket, was declared the winner. Following post-election chaos, an international team of mediators secured a truce in April 2008 leading to formation of the grand coalition government where Raila became the Prime Minister.

Raila Odinga flanked by Otieno Mak'onyango addressing a press conference on Kibera clashes, October 1995. [File, Standard]

In 2010, he led the campaign for the Constitution which was promulgated on August 27. In March 2013, he took a third shot at the presidency under the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) but lost to President Uhuru Kenyatta in an election marred by credibility questions. Raila challenged the outcome but the Supreme Court upheld Uhuru’s win.

He didn’t give up and kept the Jubilee government in check. He was the whistleblower in the Eurobond and NYS 1 scandals.

In 2017, he ran for the fourth time, disputed the presidential results announced by IEBC and challenged the same at the Supreme Court. Former Chief Justice David Maraga-led Bench nullified the polls over irregularities and illegalities on September 1 and ordered the IEBC to conduct fresh polls but Raila opted out and kick started the resist movement, boycotting products and services of firms associated with people in government.

On January 30, 2018 Raila was sworn in at Uhuru Park as the “people’s president” and on March 9, had the surprise handshake with President Kenyatta. They announced a nine-point agenda that led to the BBI, which first sought constitutional amendments.

In November 2020, they unveiled the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020 at Bomas of Kenya. The Bill was stopped by the High Court and Court of Appeal and is awaiting determination by the Supreme Court following an appeal.

In August 2021, Raila launched the ‘Azimio la Umoja’ in Nakuru, which culminated in his presidential candidature announcement at Kasarani last Friday.