Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right) is baptised by Pastor David Owuor in Nairobi in 2020.
The Anglican Church is handling the final journey of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga after his death on Wednesday, but his association with that church is something he hardly built his brand around.
In fact, Odinga appeared to be a man who blended in with many faiths, donning attire to fit in with Muslims when he needed to and with persuasions like Legio Maria.
Regardless, when the committee coordinating his burial held its first press conference on Wednesday, it announced that the Anglican Church would take charge of his final rites.
“The burial of the late Prime Minister Raila Odinga will take place on Sunday and will be conducted according to the traditions of the Anglican Church, to which [he] belonged,” its chairman, Prof Kithure Kindiki, announced.
ODM leader Raila Odinga attends a Sunday service at the St Mary's Legion Maria of African Church Mission in Makongeni, Nairobi, on November 7, 2021.
Sixteen years ago, Odinga was baptised by Prophet David Owuor of the Repentance and Holiness Church. The baptism happened when Odinga was the Prime Minister, and photos from the event were widely circulated.
The Daily Nation reported then: “On Monday evening [May 4, 2009], Pastor Owuor dipped the PM into the water of a swimming pool at a residence on Riverside Drive, Nairobi, and was catapulted to the national limelight.”
“The ceremony was a fulfilment of a promise more than a month earlier, on March 28 [2009], when the PM showed up at one of Pastor Owuor’s huge rallies in Nakuru and declared that he was born-again,” it added.
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After the baptism, Odinga said that he, alongside the then president Mwai Kibaki, would organise a “specific date of national repentance in which I will ask all people to observe a day of repentance in seeking God’s intervention and direction”.
It is not known whether the baptism saw Odinga switch allegiances from one church to another, or if it ended with the dip in the pool.
Dean of the A.C.K St. Stephen’s Cathedral Church in Kisumu Venerable Zephaniah Kore Omollo prays for NASA flagbearer Raila Odinga during a church service on May 21, 2017. Raila said he was feeling closer to God after visiting Israel's Wailing Wall where he repented of his sins and prayed for the country. He urged Kenyans not to vote for him or President Uhuru Kenyatta because of their tribes but to consider what they stand for.
Odinga’s wife, Ida Odinga, is a canon of the Anglican Church. She was introduced as such during the funeral service at Nyayo Stadium on Friday.
On June 29, just months before Odinga’s death, Mrs Odinga was translated as a canon of honour at the Anglican Church of Kenya in Bondo. To be a canon of honour, the church has to be convinced that you have served faithfully and valuably for years.
Speaking at that event, Odinga admitted that his wife was the more staunch Christian of the two.
“Ida is a very staunch Christian. I live with Ida and I know how she feels as a Christian. She has stronger faith than I, I must confess,” said Odinga. “I’m also a Christian, and actually, I was confirmed by the archbishop of Canterbury in London. That's why I didn't have to be confirmed by Bishop here.”
Odinga was baptised in the Anglican church, but his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, did not want him to be baptised using an exotic name. His 2013 autobiography, Flame of Freedom, stated that his father had to write a letter to the predecessor of the Anglican Church, which was called the Church Missionary Society.
Azimio leader Raila Odinga speaks at the Anglican Church of Kenya in Gitui, Murang'a County, on May 12, 2023.
“The bishop’s answer was that there was no reason why we should not be baptised with African names,” he wrote.
However, some padres objected.
“The issue was the subject of discussion for some time, until the archdeacon finally ruled in Jaramogi’s favour. Still, no African priest would perform the baptisms but my father eventually found a European priest who agreed to do the job,” he wrote in the book co-written with Sarah Elderkin.
That saw him and his three siblings baptised as Ng’ong’a Molo Oburu, Rayila Amolo Odinga, and Ngire Omuodo Agola.
“Although people had at first thought [it was] very strange, many later followed suit and baptised their children with African names,” Mr Odinga wrote.
In his June speech, he told the gathering that he had come to witness Christianity in a very practical way. He described his visit to Damascus and he insisted on “going to the spot where Saul became Paul”.
“When I arrived there, I was surprised to note that Damascus is actually on earth,” he said.
ODM party leader Raila Odinga (right) is gifted a sheep by Pope Raphael Titus Ochieng (left) of Legion Maria church and the Pope’s aide Sam Oganga (centre) in Makongeni, Nairobi County, on November 7, 2021.
He added that he had also visited Wittenberg, a German locality famous for being the home of the church where Martin Luther tucked theses at the church and sparked the Protestant movement.
“That is the foundation of Anglicanism, [and] the Anglican church started by Martin Luther,” he said. “I’ve been to the town of Wittenberg and I've prayed in the church where Martin Luther led the rebellion.”
Mr Odinga brought the Biblical discourse into the country’s political arena in 2017 when he branded himself Joshua, ready to take Kenyans to Canaan like the Biblical Joshua did, after taking over from Moses.
Just days after making that remark, Odinga’s team shared teams of him praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Israel, while wearing the traditional Jewish brimless skullcap.
With that, the campaigns in the election where Uhuru Kenyatta was seeking his second term as president were defined by whether the voter wanted to shift to Canaan or remain where they were. It was a highly contested election that saw a Supreme Court nullification of results and a rerun that Mr Odinga boycotted.
In all, Mr Odinga was a man who related to Christianity with deep conviction.
“I am a student of Christ, and I’ve studied Christianity very deeply,” he said at the June event.
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