Erick Ominde served as Raila Odinga’s devoted driver for 24 years.
On January 30, 2018, Kenya witnessed one of its most surreal political moments.
At Uhuru Park, thousands of supporters gathered as Raila Odinga took an oath declaring himself the “People’s President.”
That morning, Erick Ominde, Mr Odinga’s driver, received instructions: he would drive the opposition leader to the park.
“It was a difficult drive. Nobody was sure what would happen. There were threats of arrest. It felt like we were driving into history or danger,” he recalled.
They took Ngong Road, then ended up on Kenyatta Avenue toward Uhuru Park, where thousands had defied warnings to witness the event.
ODM leader Raila Odinga holds up a bible during a "swearing-in" ceremony at Uhuru Park on January 30, 2018.
From the car, Mr Ominde watched as the former Premier, flanked by loyalists, lifted the Bible and took the controversial oath.
“I was shaking. But Raila told me, ‘Be strong, Erick. Everything will be alright.’ That calmed me,” Mr Ominde said.
After the oath, as cheers erupted, Raila briefly waved before slipping away under tight security. It was now Mr Ominde’s job to ensure his boss not only gets out of the park—but also avoids what was feared to be an imminent arrest.
“He knew every shortcut in Nairobi. We took Kenyatta Avenue, connected to Valley Road, then diverted through Upper Hill toward Karen,” he said.
Five years later, in March 2023, Ominde would again find himself steering through chaos, this time amid tear gas and sirens. The ODM leader had reignited protests against President William Ruto’s government, accusing it of election fraud and rising living costs.
Mr Ominde recalled how they managed to escape the wrath of teargas. During the March 2024 demonstration.
“The late George Oduor, Raila’s former Bodyguard, who was in the car with us, told me, ‘Erick, if you make one mistake and stop, we are done.’ Raila poured water on my head and said, ‘Be strong.’ That day, we drove through smoke and chaos,” he says, pausing for breath.
Erick Ominde, 43, Raila Odinga’s driver for 24 years, during an interview with Nation at Opoda Farm, Bondo. He was the steady hand behind the wheel through Odinga’s political highs and lows.
“We left quietly, but my heart was beating fast. It was one of those days you never forget,” says Ominde.
These were just a few experiences he had with the former Premier.
For two decades, Mr Ominde sat a few feet behind one of Kenya’s most consequential men, hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, and ears tuned to the pulse of the nation.
He was the quiet constant in the roaring motorcade that carried the late Raila Odinga through political triumphs, heartbreaks, tear-gas, and history itself.
“I’ve been with Baba for 24 years. From when he was Minister for Roads, through his days as Prime Minister, and all the battles in between. I’ve seen it all from behind the wheel,” he said.
Mr Ominde, 43, hails from Miwani in Muhoroni Constituency, Kisumu County, says that his introduction to the Opposition leader came through a chance conversation.
In the late 2000s, he was working as a personal driver to Dr Odongo Odiyo in Nakuru, a close friend of Mr Odinga.
“One day, Dr Odiyo told me, ‘Raila is looking for a driver, someone who’s disciplined and calm under pressure.’ Not long after, I found myself face to face with Baba. He looked at me keenly and said, ‘You’ll drive me.’ That’s how it began,” he recalls.
It was a posting that would change his life forever.
Back then, he was Minister for Roads, Public Works & Housing, and one of the most visible figures in President Daniel Arap Moi’s government (2003-2005).
But even as a minister, his star was restless: he came from a lineage of opposition politics (his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, was Kenya’s first Vice-President) and had already been detained for nearly nine years under the one-party Moi state for alleged treason.
Erick Ominde, 43, Raila Odinga’s driver for 24 years, during an interview with Nation at Opoda Farm, Bondo. He was the steady hand behind the wheel through Odinga’s political highs and lows.
As his driver, Mr Ominde was now part of Mr Odinga’s dramatic political journey.
“He taught me about Nairobi before I even officially became his driver. All the shortcuts, all the escape routes. He knew every back-road like the back of his hand. 'When the road is blocked, there’s always another way,’ he’d say,” Mr Ominde recalls.
That phrase “there’s always another way” would come to define their shared journey through Kenya’s stormy political seasons.
Mr Odinga’s trajectory took him from ministerial office to opposition leader.
In 2007, he ran for the presidency but lost to President Mwai Kibaki in a result that sparked widespread post-election violence.
When he became Prime Minister in 2008 through a power-sharing deal in 2008, some officials wanted Mr Ominde replaced as his driver.
“They told him he needed a new driver because of protocol.” But Raila stood his ground. “He told President Kibaki’s officials, ‘This is my driver, and I can’t let him go.’ That was the kind of person Baba was loyal to those who served him.”
Their bond deepened over the years, with his boss often inquiring about his driver’s welfare before any journey.
“The first thing he asked every morning was whether I had eaten and how my family was doing,” says Ominde. “He even gave my wife a job. That’s the kind of heart he had.”
He worked alongside another driver, Philip Juma. Together, they ran Mr Odinga’s transport operations like a military unit.
“We had a diary. When Baba had an event in upcountry for instance in Migori, one of us would travel a day early to position the vehicle. When he arrived by chopper, the car was ready. We timed his speeches so that by the time he finished, we were already waiting. Coordination was key,” he explains.
But it wasn’t always smooth driving. For two decades, Mr Ominde’s job was laced with danger.
Kiambu Town: Raila Odinga, who lost the August Presidential election to the incumbent President William Ruto, kicked off his rallies in Ruaka before his motorcade snaked its way through Kiambu town, Kirigiti, Ruiru and later Githurai 45 estate.
Even during chaotic rallies that followed contested elections, his precision never left him.
“In Nairobi once, people hung on the Hummer during a rally. I told Baba it was risky. He said, ‘Don’t injure anyone, but don’t stop either. We must move.’ That’s how serious he was about keeping order, even in madness,” he recalls
Over the years, Mr Ominde has logged thousands of kilometres across Kenya and beyond.
One of his most memorable assignments was a road trip to Rwanda, after the opposition doyen visited President Yoweri Museveni in Uganda.
“Baba refused to fly. He said we’d go by road so he could see the countryside. Along the way, he told me stories of Africa’s liberation struggles. He remembered names, dates, everything. It was like travelling with a living history book," he recalls.
Mr Odinga, he says, was deeply curious and always reading.
“He could tell you the history of Uganda, Rwanda, and South Africa all from memory. That journey made me realise how much he loved Africa.”
Mr Ominde says that being the former Premier’s driver was not a 9-to-5 job. It was a 24-hour call.
“During campaign seasons, sleep was a luxury. Sometimes we went four or five days without sleeping properly. There was always another county to visit, another rally to attend,” he said.
Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Mr Ominde also recalls moments of defiance that defined Raila’s character.
“When he became Prime Minister, some advisers told him to change his phone number so that ordinary people do not reach him directly. He got angry, slapped the table and said, ‘This is my phone, not yours. I will never change my number.’ And he never did.”
After Raila’s entry into formal cooperation with President William Ruto to form a “broad-based government,” some of Mr Ominde’s duties shifted.
“I was among the few drivers occasionally sent to the State House,” he reveals.
“It was different, more structured, more formal but the discipline I learned from Baba helped me fit in.”
Today, he serves as one of the State House drivers.
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