I first had a good “talk” with Raila Odinga at Kilimani Police Station in Nairobi just next to Kenyatta National Hospital in 1982 after he had been arrested by the Kenya police following the August 1, 1982 coup attempt against the Moi government which by then had turned Kenya into a single party state ruled by Daniel Arap Moi.
As student leaders of the Student Organization of Nairobi University (SONU) a small team of us consisting of three members of the Student Representative Council (SRC) had met Raila before because he supported our efforts to revive the university student organization which had been banned by Moi when people like me were still in high school. In the effort to rebuild independent student organization at the university, Raila agreed to meet three of us as members of the SRC.
So, we knew him when police officers brought him to Kilimani Police cells at night where we were after coup attempt.
The Kilimani police cells at that time was holding students from Nairobi University arrested after the coup attempt and we were being accused as being part of the coup.
We were very surprised when Raila was led into Kilimani Police Station cells and locked in for allegedly supporting the coup attempt. We could not understand why the government decided to just throw Raila around with students in a police cell.
Then we realized that at that Kilimani police station, there were a whole bunch of other young Kenyans who were not students but they were more than us in the police cells at the station.
We were told we were in custody for our involvement in the coup operations. At that point we realized that mob of strangers in the cells with us were Special Branch Police officers and agents and their job was to listen to students talking to each other and their hope was that we would be talking about the coup and what we were doing running all over the city when it was happening.
The plan for Moi’s police operatives was that Raila comes in there and starts talking to the students and may be say something about what happened during the coup operation and things like that.
All we did when he settled down to sleep on the floor like all of us was to point fingers in our mouths looking at him basically telling him without talking that he should not open his mouth and say anything and he got the message. After about a week at Kilimani, the big officers from the SB came and took him back to the CID headquarters where he was before.
Now the nation mourns the man they love so deeply because of what he has done working with other Kenyans to make our country great as it is now in our continent and do practical things to take the country one level up in democracy for generations to come.
43 Years of relentless political work and determination in Kenyan detention prisons for years for his country, and jails and police cells as part of his home in Kenya and forced to flee to exile plus often having to escape death traps all the time and pushing the Kenyan struggle for multi-party democracy to a complete success for the country in 1992.
Raila Odinga, who was imprisoned multiple times while fighting one-party autocracy and ran five times unsuccessfully for president, died aged 80 on Wednesday in India
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People react as they mourn the death of Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, on Ngong Road, Nairobi, Kenya, October 15, 2025.
Odinga had been receiving medical treatment abroad and suffered a cardiac arrest, according to the hospital in the city of Kochi where he died.
He was for decades at the heart of Kenyan politics, striking alliances with former foes, serving as prime minister for a term, and inspiring lifelong loyalty from his base in western Kenya and in Nairobi.
A woman reacts as she mourns next to a mural depicting late former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, on the day he died, in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, October 15, 2025.
Odinga’s ability to work with rivals earned him the nickname “Agwambo” (“mysterious one”) in the Luo language.
Supporters called him “Baba” (“father” in Swahili), refusing to turn their back even when he was accused of exploiting ethnic divisions for political gain or of striking deals with opponents for the sake of personal power.
Upon news of his passing, hundreds of supporters from the Nairobi slum of Kibera, many crying and waving twigs to ward off bad omens, made their way in a procession to Odinga’s family home in Karen.
Crowds also gathered in the lakeside town of Kisumu and the Rift Valley town of Eldoret where Odinga was popular.
His legacy as a democracy activist over the years helped seal two of Kenya’s most important reforms: multiparty democracy in 1991 and a new constitution in 2010.
Odinga led protests after a disputed 2007 vote plunged Kenya into its most serious political violence since independence.
A woman reacts as she mourns the death of Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, on Ngong Road, Nairobi, Kenya, October 15, 2025.
About 1,300 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced in fighting largely between Odinga’s Luo tribe and then-President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyus, the largest and richest group.
People mourn the death of Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, on Ngong Road, Nairobi, Kenya,
People react as they mourn the death of Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, at his Karen residence in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, October 15, 2025.
Kisumu fell silent on Wednesday. Then, almost as if on cue, the wails began. From Kondele to Nyalenda, from Oginga Odinga Street to Manyatta, voices rose in grief as the news spread: Raila Amollo Odinga was gone.
By midmorning, crowds poured into the streets. Men, women, and children chanted “Baba! Jowi!” — the cry reserved for heroes.
They call him “Jowi” which means brave for any battle. The younger generation call him “CHUMA” which means for them he is as hard as a rock with metals who could not be pushed around even with the detentions and jail time. He was taking all that standing up to help in developing democracy in his country.
Now the nation is telling Raila they love him just as much and he loves them and his country. It can’t be better than that. Good for Raila Odinga family and for the country.
To all those young Kenyans who want to honour Raila Amolo Odinga for his battles for our country, do that by getting your voting cards right now so you can help determine the leaders of your country with your votes going forward. Let your Voting Card be your Raila Odinga and you will win every battle for the betterment of your country.
![[PHOTOS] Raila hosts Magufuli’s daughter at Karen residence](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FqHhasLn-c4/maxresdefault.jpg)
