"From hero to compromised insider, his life told the story of a nation undone by the very system it created. Kenyans are wont to refer to Raila Odinga, the long-reigning 80-year-old opposition leader who died on Wednesday, as the Enigma of Kenyan politics, a reference to the title of a 2006 biography of him penned by the Nigerian author, Babafemi Badejo."
"The son of Kenya's first vice president, he carved out a path as a crusader for freedom and better governance that led him from the country's prisons and torture chambers to some of the highest political offices in the land. But at the end of his life, the compromises he had made to get there, the handshakes that peppered his career, had taken their toll, with a new generation shunning him, considering him part of the problem."
Raila Odinga rose from being the son of Kenya's first vice president to a prominent opposition leader and crusader for democracy and constitutional reform. He endured imprisonment and alleged torture, mobilized mass support, and led campaigns for multiparty democracy and a new constitution over decades. He repeatedly ran for president (1997 onward except 2002), influencing outcomes and backing Mwai Kibaki in 2002. Multiple elections (2007, 2013, 2017) were widely seen as stolen, prompting refusals to accept results. Later compromises and high-profile handshakes eroded trust among younger voters, leaving parts of the population to view him as part of the political problem.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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