By Anderson Ojwang
Siaya Senator Oburu Odinga has played second fiddle in politics to his younger brother, the late Raila Odinga, for over three decades and has often been seen to be reliant on Raila for survival.
For many, Oburu has often passed out as a weakling and the soft belly of the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga family political lineage.
Most people have often dismissed him as “Raila’s crybaby”, which in actual fact is not true. Oburu has been the fulcrum of the Odinga’s economic and political mainstay.
The soft-spoken, non-controversial, open-minded, and lethal Oburu is finally walking out of Raila’s shadow to steer the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) from the storm to safe docking.
Kisumu Woman Representative Ruth Odinga, the younger sister, sounded the alarm bell when she said during a recent meeting with a delegation of party officials from Nyanza at Oburu’s home in Bondo, “Oburu was Raila’s advisor and whatever he said, Raila would not go against. Oburu is firmer and fair in his management. He will steer and unite the party.”
In the declassified files, foreign diplomatic memos and war student movements reveal Oburu’s early grooming for leadership long before Raila’s political reign.
By 1961, Oburu had been viewed as a future influential figure in Kenya’s politics. This is according to documents intercepted by the British spy agency M15, when his father contemplated taking him to a private boys’ school in London’s upmarket institution.
When Oburu visited China aged 20 years, he was treated as nobility, and one of the Western diplomats, after secretly recording a conversation with Oburu in 1964, informed the Foreign Office in London that “Oburu Oginga may well one day be a man of some consequence in Kenya.”
And the diplomat’s prophecy has come to pass. During the recent burial of former Minister Dalmas Otieno Anyango in Rongo, Migori County, Oburu revealed how he negotiated for the release of Raila from detention.
While Jaramogi Oginga and his son Raila rebelled against the government of the day, Oburu served in the same government as a provincial planning officer.
Oburu said he approached Dalmas to help him negotiate and secure a loan for the family business that was expanding, and because his family was in bad books with the government, he had to seek an alternative route.
“I held discussions with Dalmas, who took me to the once powerful Permanent Secretary for Provincial Administration, Hezekiah Oyugi.
In the meeting, we agreed that Jaramogi was to say he had no problem with the government. I was able to convince Jaramogi, but he had one condition — the release of Raila. The condition was agreed on, and Jaramogi drove to Nairobi and issued a statement that marked Raila’s freedom until his death,” he said.
Oburu has moved to thaw the storm in the ODM party by summoning the rebelling Embakasi East MP Babu Owino to listen and address his issues.
“This is not the time to kick people out but to unite the people. Nobody should deny any member a party ticket. Babu is one of us, and we should hand over leadership to the youths,” he said during a recent TV interview.
And yesterday, Oburu paid a courtesy call on Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya. Oparanya, a former deputy party leader, has had a running battle with Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa, which had threatened to undermine the party’s popularity and dominance in the region.
Oparanya wrote on his X handle, “I held a meeting with Dr Oburu Oginga, the interim party leader of ODM, who paid me a courtesy call at my office.
Our discussion focused on matters of mutual interest, particularly on how strengthened collaboration and sound leadership can advance the national development agenda and promote inclusive economic growth across the country.”
On the broad-based government, Oburu was categorical that ODM was still in the coalition but was open to future coalitions.
Oburu said currently ODM was in a broad-based government and would watch how the political formation with President William Ruto rolled out ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“We have a clear position that in 2027, when the time comes, we will have a pre-election or post-election coalition and we shall discuss.
For now, we are concentrating on staying in the broad-based government which we have with UDA, and the issues we are tackling are on the 10-point agenda.
We have not moved out of that and we have not said anything more than that.
If at that time, 2027, Ruto comes and joins ODM — you know he is a founder member of ODM — and he wants to vie on the party ticket, we will subject him to the rule,” he said.
Oburu said the current arrangement does not speak about the 2027 presidential elections and coalition.
“Once the framework is implemented fully, then 2027 will take care of itself. In 2027, you will see people jostling, and it will be very difficult to form any government in Kenya without a coalition.
Even for this government, even before we joined it, it had parties within it. You will see political parties going for strong formations.
At that time, ODM will be relevant as friends. If it is weak or swallowed, nobody will want to talk to you.
We could join any formation, including UDA. We are going to talk to anybody, including UDA. It depends on how we work to implement what we have agreed on — whether they will be the most suitable partners or not will be seen based on the agenda we will have with them.
If they build this relationship, gel and work together, there is nothing to prevent us from working together to win the next election.
If we feel we were given a raw deal and have not worked well at the end of our arrangement, then we have options to talk to other people.
We have not tied ourselves or our hands to an arrangement that makes it difficult for our party to talk to anyone else in case we are not in agreement with the implementation.
If we feel we have been given a raw deal in terms of development, justice and so on, then we are free to join with other formations.
We are not saying we are not going to work with Ruto because he is one of the options which is there and open for us to continue,” he said.
In the 2027 general election, the prediction may just come to pass as Oburu now sits on the control tower.
