NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 24 – Mama Ida Odinga has handed her son, Raila Odinga Junior, to Kibra leaders and residents, urging them to guide him as he seeks to establish himself in elective politics and carry forward the political legacy of his late father, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

📻 Breaking It Down

Speaking during celebrations to mark her 76th birthday, Ida appeared to endorse her son’s bid for the Kibra parliamentary seat while asking local leaders to mentor him and ensure he follows the right path.

“Now you, Kibra residents, have come to me with other things. You are telling me that ‘Mtoto wa simba ni simba.’ If you have decided, then I don’t have much to say, but I put him in your hands,” she said.

Ida specifically appealed to Kibra leaders to take responsibility for guiding the younger Odinga as he seeks to enter elective politics.

📌 What You Need to Know

“To all of you here, I leave my child in your hands,” she said.

“All of you who have come here at the front, I have given you my son. Take care of him, teach him and remind him. Many of you started with the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in 1992. Show him the way so that he walks in the right way and does the right thing.”

The remarks come barely weeks after Raila Junior publicly declared his intention to contest the Kibra parliamentary seat in the 2027 General Election.

Raila Junior has in recent months intensified his grassroots activities in Kibra, a constituency that was a longstanding political stronghold of his late father.

On August 3, he told a gathering of Kibra elders that he had already started planning for the constituency ahead of the 2027 elections, signalling that his interest in the seat had moved beyond speculation.

“Mimi nafikiria vile kupanga Kibra post 2027 na nyinyi mnafikirai vile kupiga kura. So nishaenda mbele yenu. Shida yangu ni vile napanga Kibra sasa. Shida yenu sasa itakua vile nitaingia, hiyo si shida yangu. Mimi nishaenda mbele. Nimeanza kupanga,” he told the gathering.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya