Raila Odinga, the party leader for Cord and former Kenyan Prime Minister has been a prominent face in the Kenyan political arena for decades.
Despite his profile there are many intriguing facts about Raila that you may not know.
Here are five amazing facts about Raila Odinga.
Five
His father and him were Members of Parliament at the same time
Raila alongside his father Oginga Odinga. Image: Kenya Travel Diaries
In a rare feat, both Raila Odinga and his father Oginga Odinga (the first vice president in Kenya’s history) served together as MPs in the National Assembly between 1992 and 1994. Oginga was the representative for the Bondo constituency while Raila served as the MP from Langata.
Oginga died during his tenure in office on January 20, 1994.
Four
He studied in East Germany
Everyone knows that Raila studied in Germany, but few people realize that he studied in the Soviet occupied East Germany when he first began his studies at the Technical School in Magdeburg.
In fact, using his Kenyan citizenship, he was able to bring some of his friends goods from West Germany that they could not have gotten otherwise.
Three
Raila didn’t know his mother had died for two months
The former prime minister found himself imprisoned back in 1982 after he was accused of being involved with a coup attempt in the same year.
Two years later in 1984, Mary Juma Odinga, passed away. Unfortunately for the imprisoned Raila, he was not made aware of this sad fact until two months later.
Raila was released from his first stretch in prison on February 6, 1988.
Two
Raila Odinga is ordered into a police car on his arrest in Nairobi after a peaceful protest march turned violent in the Moi era.
Was in exile in Norway for a year
After Raila was released from a third stretch behind bars on June 21, 1991, he began claiming that he was receiving threats that he would be assassinated.
He then left for the European country of Norway where he stayed in exile until February of 1992. He returned to help push for multi party democracy during the 1992 elections, during which he was elected to Parliament.
One
Florida A&M University gave him an honorary degree
Raila received an honorary degree from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (Florida A&M) in April of 2012.
This has not been the only honorary degree that Raila has received in his life, getting another honorary degree from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in Malaysia, also during 2012.
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