Ida Odinga: The quiet pillar behind Raila's loud battles

Ida Betty Odinga, wife to the late statesman Raila Amolo Odinga, has seen enough prison doors slamming shut behind her husband.

She has also endured long, cold nights waiting for those same doors to open. Sometimes they took a few weeks or months. Other times, they took years. But they always opened.

For the 52 years of their marriage, Ida was Raila’s anchor—his partner in struggle, in sacrifice, and, undoubtedly, in love.

When her husband went for a routine medical check-up in India, Ida trusted her instincts once again. If the brutal Kenyan regimes that had incarcerated her husband could eventually release him, she hoped the doors of the Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital in India would do the same.

But it was not to be. On Wednesday morning, her husband was pronounced dead at Devamatha Hospital, where he had been rushed after collapsing at the eye clinic. He would not be returning to her warm embrace, one he always turned to when in need of comfort.

This time, no protests or petitions, the very tools Raila used to pressure successive governments into submission, could undo the firm and final lock of death.

Before she could come to terms with what was perhaps the grimmest news of her life, Ida was already welcoming grief-stricken Kenyans from all walks of life to their Karen home.

Among the first dignitaries to arrive were President William Ruto, members of his Cabinet, legislators, and ODM party officials.

Outside the gate, heaving masses of Kenyans waving twigs and chanting dirges had already congregated. With little strength, Ida took a short stroll from the house and tried to address them, only to be drowned out by their cries. “I am very sorry for what has happened. This is not what we expected, but it has happened…” she said, her eyes heavy with tears.

Few women in Kenya have endured the tribulations of a mother and wife whose husband was constantly in the crosshairs of the establishment.

Raila was first arrested in 1982 following the failed coup of August 1, that year. He was later charged with treason and detained for six years without trial.

He was freed in February 1988, only to be re-arrested in September that year and detained once again until June 1989.

Despite being a mother to young children, Ida became a marked woman, with security agents of the Moi-era hunting her down, not only interfering with her daily activities, but even her children’s education.

One of the many painful prices Ida had to pay for being Raila’s wife was being sacked from her 20-year teaching job at Kenya High School by then Minister for Education, Peter Oloo Aringo, acting at the behest of the ruling party, Kanu.

In an interview with the US broadcaster CNN, Ida recalled the dark days of her husband’s detention and how the 1980s and 1990s made her a political widow. “It was very hard on me. At that time. I had three children, my eldest was nine years old, then I had a five-year-old and a three-year-old,” she said.

“I was still a teacher in high school and I loved my job. I became like a political widow without a husband, and my children had to go to school, they had to leave, and so forth.”

Despite her husband’s absence, the children remained her responsibility. “I had to mature very quickly and know how to balance my life, how to be able to do my job and still bring up the children, single-handedly for those 10 years,” she told CNN.

“I was always being followed by the police. They were always harassing me. It was never a peaceful time. And in the process, sometimes I would be arrested and thrown in a cell, and remain there for a weekend.”

The two lovebirds met while studying at the University of Nairobi. Ida’s only wish then was that she would never marry a politician. Her aversion to politics had been shaped by the frequent campus riots.

So when Raila and his cousin went to visit Ida’s brother in Pangani, Nairobi, she was convinced that the engineering student was the perfect pick. The two got married on September 1, 1973.

Over the years, tragedy has carved deep wounds in Ida Odinga’s life. In 2017, her daughter Rosemary lost her sight due to a brain tumour.
Just two years earlier, in 2015, Ida had mourned the sudden death of her son, Fidel, who died in his sleep at 41.

Through it all, Ida remained by Raila’s side—his unwavering support through political storms and personal loss.
Now, she grieves a man who died with unfulfilled dreams for a country he served more than himself.