Because former Prime Minister Raila Odinga was a fan of vitendawili (riddles), let us imagine for a moment that his death last October was itself a practical riddle, one he will solve by resurrecting with a cheeky smile and a “ng’ooo!”
In a split second, the man who was named Rayila as a child will return from that place towards which he escorted many of his near and dear ones while chanting “jowi!” and swinging a fly whisk. That place hides his son, Fidel; his father, Jaramogi; his mother, Mary; and numerous others.
Perhaps, just perhaps, someone will gain fame by creatively updating him on the events that followed that fateful October 15 morning in India, including the multitudes who turned out to welcome his body back to Kenya. The account might be titled “Baba, While You Were Away”. In 2014, Japheth Muroko became a celebrity for doing something similar.
President William Ruto, his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni and the African Union Commission Chairperson candidate Raila Odinga present a trophy to Gor Mahia Football team after they defeated Uganda's Kitara Football team during the official launch of the 20,000-seater Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Stadium in Siaya county. They later watched a thrilling match between Gor Mahia and Uganda’s Kitara Football Club. President Ruto said that as leaders they were going beyond the boundaries to promote multinational sports competitions so as to deepen cross-border harmony, boost talent exchange and further regional integration. 2/01/2025
Photo credit: Photo | PCS
The football-savvy might bring him up to speed with the World Cup. As he once loved mentioning Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas who combined to score the solitary goal in the 2010 final during extra time, he may find it instructive that the 2026 final was also won by Spain and by a solitary goal, this time Nico Williams feeding Ferran Torres – again in extra time.
Might he have called himself the Torres of the race if he were to gun for the presidency in 2027 at the ripe age of 82? After all, he was the enigma of Kenyan politics, and the Oxford dictionary says the term refers to “a person, thing or situation that is mysterious and difficult to understand”.
Speaking of enigmas, he might be taken aback to find his September 2025 question, “Who told you?”, emblazoned on a T-shirt regularly worn by a man who is now nursing presidential ambitions and drawing crowds wherever he goes.
He had posed the question for the consideration of those who thought his ODM party wasn’t interested in the presidency in 2027. “Wait”, he will wonder, “Why is Edwin Sifuna not in ODM? Why is he walking around with my question and image printed on his shirt and why has he not been to Orange House for eons?”
Then he will hear whispers that those he left in government decided to remain there. John Mbadi, one of the experts he donated to President William Ruto’s government, may offer him a soda while explaining how expertly the country’s Treasury is being managed – so expertly, in fact, that Kenyans apparently cannot stop enjoying their soda.
He will be notified about a resolution made in Naivasha in August in which his ODM is working on a common manifesto and a coalition agreement with President Ruto’s UDA, meaning ODM will not be going for the presidency.
Aha, coalition agreements? He will probably nod and say this is a movie he has watched many times before.
He will flash back to the 1997 hunt for a single opposition candidate to face President Daniel arap Moi, where the names of Kivutha Kibwana, Willy Mutunga, Wangari Maathai, Charity Ngilu, among others were floated. In the end, the opposition went to the polls divided, and Mr Moi won with 40 per cent of the vote, with Raila third on 10.79 per cent.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and former President Daniel Moi in Nairobi on July 8, 2012.
Next, he will recall 2001 when his NDP had a merger with the ruling Kanu headed by Mr Moi, only for Mr Moi to pick Uhuru Kenyatta as his successor. He will remember how he led a walkout, formed the Liberal Democratic Party and teamed up with Mwai Kibaki and Charity Ngilu in the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) that defeated Kanu in the 2002 General Election. He will recall the Narc pre-election MoU that was signed, sealed and shelved, leading to a fallout with Mr Kibaki.
Then his mind will revisit 2007 when his ODM split into two due to disagreements over control of the party. He and Kalonzo Musyoka parted ways four months before the election, and the incumbent Mwai Kibaki was controversially declared the winner with 46.42 per cent, against Raila’s 44.07 per cent, while Mr Musyoka’s ODM-Kenya clinched 8.91 per cent of the vote.
His mind will take a leap to 2012, when his deputy in ODM, Mr Musalia Mudavadi, left the party due to friction over the party’s presidential nomination rules. Mr Mudavadi’s name will replay in his mind when he takes stock of the 2022 election, what with the way he crossed over from the One Kenya Alliance to join William Ruto in what Mr Mudavadi called an “earthquake”.
With those memories, he is likely to ask questions about the Naivasha resolution once more, and he might find it interesting that his elder brother, Oburu, is now holding his position as ODM head. He will chuckle at realising that Dr Oburu has nicknames that include “Pawa Man”, wondering whether he will ever gather a bagful of nicknames like the ones he had: Agwambo, Jakom, Tinga, Baba, among others.
He may want to ask Oburu to explain what he meant when he said in February: “Hatuwezi kaa bila pawa.”
Equally, he may want his daughter, Winnie, to explain what she meant in that January remark: “You cannot copy-paste Baba.”
Winnie Odinga during her anointing by Rose Otumba, Women Representative of the Luo Council of Elders in Siaya, in Bondo, Siaya County, on October 3, 2026.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
He will learn that his wife, Ida, is now being called “Ambassador”, because President William Ruto appointed her Kenya’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep).
Someone might mention to him that Dr Ruto’s government recently embarked on a process of compensating families of those who were killed during protests, some that he organised to champion one cause or another.
He will be told that the reparations programme, launched in June 2026, set aside Sh2 billion for people harmed during demonstrations and public protests, and that its first phase paid Sh448.7 million to 348 beneficiaries. Families of 115 people who died were awarded Sh3 million each; survivors with severe injuries received Sh1 million each; those with moderate injuries Sh500, 000; and those with minor injuries Sh50, 000. He will also learn that claims are vetted with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and the jury is out on whether he will approve of the arrangement.
Like Solomon, he might be required to arbitrate between the two sides of his once-steady ODM. He will examine the reasoning of those who have chosen to remain with Dr Ruto and assure him of a second term. He will also weigh the arguments of the ODM wing that wants Dr Ruto condemned to a single term.
He will learn that this disagreement has turned into a struggle between Oburu Oginga’s “Linda Ground” camp, which supports a pre-election pact with UDA and President Ruto’s re-election, and the “Linda Mwananchi” wing associated with Edwin Sifuna, Babu Owino, Godfrey Osotsi and James Orengo, which opposes that alliance and insists that ODM should field or support an alternative presidential candidate. The dispute has seen Mr Sifuna removed as secretary-general, Osotsi ejected from his deputy-party-leader position, the holding of rival rallies and conventions, among others.
Whatever was in his mind when he agreed to enter the broad-based agreement with Dr Ruto will now have to come out clearly, as he will be required to take a definitive stand.
Mr Odinga will be wowed to hear that various installations have been named after him since his departure in October 2025. Someone will alert him to Dr Ruto’s December 2025 announcement that the Talanta Stadium on Ngong Road would be called the Raila Odinga International Stadium.
He will smile to learn that on October 20, 2025, just five days after his “au revoir”, he posthumously got the Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart award – the highest honour a civilian can get – from Dr Ruto.
He will be impressed to learn that the Kenya School of Government, where he was a student in 1978, now has a Raila Amolo Odinga Regional Leadership and Governance Academy. He will also be informed that the University of Nairobi is starting the Rt Hon Raila Odinga Centre for Democracy.
Raila will also be impressed to learn that the Kenya Publishers Association has added him to its hall of fame and that a hospital in Mombasa will bear his name. He will further be informed that October is being branded a Raila Odinga Month, with commemorations planned throughout its 31 days.
Bombarded with those and more, he may – as was common of him – say that he will announce the way forward at a certain date. And that will leave Kenyans guessing for days on end.
Maybe that announcement will be that he intends to be on the ballot in 2027. Once again, the jabs at President William Ruto’s rallies will include phrases such as “yule mzee wa vitendawili”, while bloggers work overtime to show why 82 is not too old for a man to lead Kenya. He may even say he is ready to work with Democracy for the Citizens Party leader Rigathi Gachagua, a man for whom he had no kind words during the 2022 campaigns. This is politics, after all; a game with no permanent friends or enemies.
