SIBLINGS RECALL RAILA'S BOLDNESS

Late Raila Odinga's siblings have come out to narrate their childhood tales of their childhood, explaining how strict and cunning the politician was right from a tender age.
Odinga's older brother Oburu Ng'ong'a Oginga elaborated that he was always outspoken, upright and never fearful to stand up to his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya's first Vice President.

Speaking during the funeral service at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) in Bondo on Sunday, he clarified that his boldness one time saw him getting a beating from his tough father for inquiring why they had to depart early to harvest cotton.

"My father would return home every Saturday (from Kisumu to Nyamira), and he would insist that we were collecting cotton since this was a cotton-producing area. Because my father was stern, we would be forced to go and collect cotton but Raila would tell him 'You know how hard it is to collect cotton, why don't you collect it too?' and he was in line.".

This was also attested to by Odinga's younger sister Dr. Wenwa Akinyi Odinga, who described Odinga as a "strong-headed" man from childhood and was always defiant in standing up to teachers at school.

"There used to be a rule that if your teacher caned you, you would say 'thank you, teacher' and salute, which he did not do. He would stand up and start walking, and then he would get caned again and again until the teacher was tired," she said.

Later in life, when Odinga was serving as the Deputy Director in Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) in the late 1970s and 1980s, Dr. Akinyi said that he was disciplined and always ensured integrity and professionalism prevailed.

"He was disciplined. If you were working under his directorship at KEBS, you could not be late, and he even had an attendance register," she added.

Odinga, 80, passed away after he fainted in India's city of Kochi on October 15, where he had been undergoing treatment for a personal condition.

The late political premier will be given a state funeral with all dignity and be buried next to his father's grave in Bondo.