Odinga was born in January 1945, in Maseno, Nyanza Province of Kenya, the second son of nine children of the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who was Kenya's vice-president and doyen of opposition, and Mama Mary Emma Odinga.
Odinga was, until November 2005, minister of roads and public works and housing.
Odinga contested for the 2007 presidency and came "second" to the incumbent Mwai Kibaki, but Odinga refused to accept the result, accusing Kibabi of winning the race by rigging.
He 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.
Odinga was educated in former East Germany and spent six years in solitary confinement for his alleged involvement in a 1982 coup that failed to topple the president of the day, Daniel arap Moi.
Later, Odinga was rehabilitated. Enriched by his family's molasses business, he helped to defeat Moi in the presidential election of 2002, this time by throwing his support behind a coalition led by Mwai Kibaki.
As a prominent and successful businessman, who runs the engineering firm Spectra International, he is experienced in global corporate practices and says he intends to inject this knowledge into his administration to reconstruct Kenya's economy.
Odinga has taught in Kenyan universities and held various positions both in the government and private sector.
Odinga has also attended courses at the British Standards Institution in London, Washington D.C., and the University of Denver, Colorado. In addition, he authored several publications both technical and political.
He grew up within the tradition of struggle, which has consistently stood for the complete liberation of the Kenyan people -- where freedom would form the cornerstone of Kenyan society.
In the dark days of political repression in Kenya, Odinga was detained three times without trial for a total period of eight years. In 1991 at the height of the struggle for democratic change, he had to briefly seek asylum in Norway in order to escape a fourth detention.
After the re-introduction of multi-party politics, Odinga vied for the Lang'ata seat, a multi-ethnic constituency within Nairobi city and won with a wide majority on a FORD-Kenya ticket.
Following disagreements within the leadership of the party, in December 1996, he resigned from both FORD-Kenya and parliament, and joined the National Development Party of Kenya (NDP). He contested the ensuing by-election in his former constituency on an NDP ticket in March 1997, and retained the seat.
Raila was elected leader of the NDP, and was the party's presidential candidate in the 1997 general election, coming third in a field of 15 candidates.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Profile: Kenya's new PM Raila Odinga
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Koffi Annan's Peace Mission doomed to fail as Another Kenyan Oposition MP is killed in cold blood
Another opposition (ODM) MP has been killed in Kenya, as violence continues over last month's disputed election. David Kimutai Too was shot dead Thursday and his body taken to Moi Teaching and Referal Hospital. The man was shot dead in the western town of Eldoret, said a spokesman for his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
He is the second ODM MP to be killed this week. The shooting of Mugabe Were in Nairobi sparked violent clashes in slums seen as opposition strongholds.
Scanty reports indicate that "he was a victim of a love triangle" involving the police who apparently shot him. Whatever the reason, a wrong message has found its way home.
More than 850 people have been killed and 250,000 have fled their homes since the disputed presidential poll.
In an earlier post, the international press had published an article citing "kenya's collapse" now that appears to be imminent as the death of another MP may not go down well with the Kenyan people especially those from the Rift Valley Province. It is a very sad day for a country that has experienced peace for the last 40 years, it has been a source of hope to many conflict ridden African countries like Somali and Southern Sudan.
It is sad that Kenyan political elites are sending political messages the wrong way pitting Kenyans against each other. Reports that terror gangs have resurfaced has raised fears in the country forcing people to flee from their homes for fear of being killed by these gangs. It is unfortunate, unforgivable, unthinkable that a political message can be sent in this way. Just how possible is it that two Mps affiliated to the opposition get killed within hours when it was very clear that the opposition had more numbers in parliament. This is crazy, it is madness and should be condemned in the strongest terms possible.
The whole world is calling for peace to prevail in Kenya but some of our leaders appear not ready to embrace peace. This is putting to jeorpady the efforts by Koffi Annan and his team to broker peace in the country. It seems an invisible hand is playing dirty games just to stall the talks. During the first day of the peace talks the government ask for more time to "consolidate their position" on the matter. The meeting was supposed to proceed today but the new developments of killing an MP are bound to further delay the search for peace in this once beloved country. I mourn for Kenyans, may be this is the price for freedom. Its deplorable that it is happening in Kenya.
