Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga (centre) is welcomed by Agriculture CS Peter Munya(3rd left) and Peter Munga(right) as he arrive for Mt Kenya Leaders Forum Pamoja na Azimio at Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi on December 8, 2021. [File, Standard]
Raila Odinga's last words to a region that misread him
Politics
By
Gitau Wanyoike
| Oct 18, 2025
Since independence, Central Kenya has produced three Presidents, Jomo Kenyatta, Mwai Kibaki, and Uhuru Kenyatta, making the region a natural bastion of government support.
Those who stood in opposition were often branded enemies of the people.
For decades, this political reality placed the late Raila Odinga, former leader of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), in the crosshairs of scepticism and hostility from the mountain region.
Yet in his final address to the people of Mt Kenya on May 2, 2025, during the burial of Francis Ng’aru at the Thika Sports Club, Raila sought to remind the region of their shared political journey and the bridges he helped build for Kenya’s democracy.
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Dr Ng’aru was the husband of Mumbi Ng’aru, former East African Legislative Assembly member, the first woman mayor of Thika, and one of ODM’s most loyal stalwarts from Central Kenya.
Together with other figures, such as Kamau Mweha, who contested for Kigumo parliamentary seat, Mumbi represented steadfast support for ODM in a region that has not always been friendly to the Opposition.
Raila’s visit to the region is well remembered in 2017, few months before the General Election, when his convoy was stoned by political opponents, and in 2022 when he addressed residents during stopovers.
He spoke with calm reflection and deep conviction and began by recalling his six-decade friendship with Ng’aru, whom he first met in Germany in the 1960s, before reconnecting years later in Kenya through Mumbi, unaware at first that she was Ng’aru’s wife.
In his eulogy, Raila praised Mumbi’s professionalism and courage, noting that her loyalty to ODM stood firm even in an environment politically hostile to the party.
Turning to the mourners, Odinga said he was always puzzled when people in Mt Kenya said they feared him.
“We have always worked together. Jaramogi Oginga (his father) was the one who stood in Parliament and said Jomo Kenyatta and those detained with him were the true leaders of Kenya.
‘‘He was disowned by members from this region but he stood firm until Kenyatta was released. It was Jaramogi who took Kenyatta home to Gatundu,” he said.
Raila reminded the crowd that ideological differences between his father and Kenyatta were not tribal but political, and a normal part of democracy.
Raila recounted his collaboration with Central Kenya figures like Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia in the struggle for multiparty democracy, recalling how they were arrested and detained together after organising the famous Kamukunji rally.
“When Matiba and Rubia were in trouble, they came to Jaramogi for help. Together, we fought to repeal Section 2A and bring back multipartyism,” he said.
He traced the political missteps that followed the divisions of 1992 that cost the opposition victory and reminded mourners of his famous 2002 declaration, “Kibaki Tosha!”.
“Kibaki was a Kikuyu, and I knew that,” Raila said. “So where does the idea come from that Raila is an enemy of Kikuyus?
‘‘We only disagreed when people around him refused to implement the Constitution we had agreed upon.”
In his final message to the people of Mt Kenya, Raila called for unity and peace above politics.
“Those talking about ethnicity are engaging in cheap politics. Kenya is greater than any of us.
‘‘If Kenya burns, we have no country. Let us stay united and pursue peace,” he urged, warning against the chaos that has consumed neighbouring nations like Somalia, South Sudan, and the DR Congo.
The ODM Thika branch too joined the nation in mourning the passing of their party leader.
The branch leaders, led by Kiambu County Secretary General David Moreka, described Raila as a man who transcended politics and a leader whose ideals and vision inspired many.
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