In a sombre plea for patience amid Kenya’s grieving haze, Oburu Odinga has warned against a hasty scramble for 2027 political ground, reflecting on how his late brother Raila left ODM stalwarts embedded within President Ruto’s government before his untimely death.
Speaking at a subdued family gathering in Bondo on Sunday – just 12 days after Raila’s cardiac arrest in India – Oburu, the 82-year-old elder statesman and Siaya Senator, urged the party’s youth wing to hit pause on succession whispers.
“Raila left us inside the government before his death. We don’t want to move too fast like some young people who have already started talking about 2027; we are not there yet,” he said, his voice gravelly with loss, eyes scanning the cluster of nieces and nephews under the thatched eaves of the Odinga homestead.
The Agwambo patriarch, whose 2022 near-miss at State House forged an unlikely truce with Ruto – yielding cabinet slots for ODM heavyweights like Hassan Joho and John Mbadi – had pivoted the opposition toward pragmatic power-sharing.
Oburu’s caution echoes that legacy: with four ODM ministers now orbiting the Kenya Kwanza sun, a premature 2027 pivot risks alienating the very alliances Raila nurtured over decades of ballot battles and bush protests.
“Baba built bridges, not barricades – rushing now dishonours that,” Oburu added in a follow-up chat with local TV station, his walking stick tapping rhythmically against the wooden floor like a metronome of restraint.
This warning from Oburu Odinga against the 2027 rush comes as Nyanza’s political pot simmers.
Raila’s October passing, no less, has left a chasm: who inherits the Luo mantle? Joho eyes Mombasa’s throne but covets national heft; Opiyo Wandayi, the whip-smart Energy CS, fields whispers from Kisumu’s matatu hubs; even Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, the millennial mouthpiece, tests waters with youth forums.
Oburu’s elder wisdom cuts through the chatter, invoking Luo lore of measured mourning – 40 days of quiet reflection before life’s ledger reopens.
“These young bloods tweet manifestos while we bury icons; let grief guide, not ambition,” he quipped, a faint smile cracking his weathered face, reminiscent of Raila’s own wry deflections during 2017’s fiery polls.
Broader Kenya nods warily. Ruto, in a Monday harambee at Uhuru Park, extended olive branches – Sh500 million for Siaya irrigation in Raila’s name – while his UDA machine eyes the vacuum as a gift horse.
Analysts at the Africa Institute for Governing Initiatives see Oburu’s break as tactical: ODM’s 4.5 million 2022 votes could fracture without a cooling-off, especially with Gen Z’s anti-tax embers still smouldering from last June’s streets.