Raila Odinga News | Quotes | Wiki - UPI.com Raila Odinga News Next Wiki Raila Amollo Odinga (born January 7, 1945), also popularly known to Kenyans as Agwambo, is a Kenyan politician, currently serving as the Prime Minister of Kenya in a coalition government. He has served as a Member of Parliament for Langata since 1992, was Minister of Energy from 2001 to 2002, and was Minister of Roads, Public Works and Housing from 2003 to 2005. He was the main opposition candidate in the disputed 2007 presidential election. Following a post-electoral crisis that resulted in the deaths of 1,500 people and the displacement of 600,000 more, Odinga took office as Prime Minister and served as a supervisor of a national unity coalition government, in April 2008. Odinga is the son of the first Vice President of Kenya, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga; Raila's brother, Oburu Odinga, is also currently a Member of Parliament (MP).

Raila is commonly known by his first name due to coincidence: he was an MP at the same time as his father between 1992 and 1994, and is currently in the House with Oburu. Raila was a presidential contender in the 1997 elections, coming third after President Daniel arap Moi of KANU and Mwai Kibaki, the current president of Kenya and then a member of the Democratic Party. Odinga campaigned to run for president in the December 2007 elections on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket. On September 1, 2007, Raila Odinga was elected as the presidential candidate of the ODM. He garnered significant support in the 2007 General Election, with majority of the votes in Rift Valley, Western, his native Nyanza, Coast, Nairobi (Capital) and North Eastern provinces. Kibaki led in his native Central province and beat Raila in Eastern province. Out of the 2007 elections, his party, ODM, got 99 out of 210 seats in the parliament, making the ODM the single largest party in parliament.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License . It uses material from the Wikipedia article " Raila Odinga ." Quotes Odinga hoping for third time lucky [Video] March 1, 2013 SCRIPT: Raila Odinga was practically born on the political stage -- and there's no doubt he feels comfortable addressing his thousands of supporters here in his homeland in Kisumu. On Monday the 68-year-old will vie for the third and probably last time to become president of Kenya His supporters believe he has all the necessary attributes. SOUNDBITE 1: Vox Pop (English, 16 secs): "Raila is a real democrat, first. Second he is the one who can bring real change to this country." "Raila is one person who all his life has fought for the rights of Kenyans." "He is trying to do away with ethnicity that we have in Kenya." Coming from a political family Raila has pursued his political ambitions undeterred by beatings, persecution, exile and several spells in jail for rallying opposition against Kenya's second president, Daniel Arap Moi.

Raila ran in the 1997 elections but came third after Moi and Mwai Kibaki, now the outgoing president. In 2002 he backed Kibaki, who won. Five years later Raila threw his hat in the ring again. And when Kibaki won a second term, Raila's supporters alleged election fraud and a wave of inter-ethnic violence swept over the country. To end the violence, Kibaki and Raila struck a power-sharing deal, with Raila becoming prime minister. But he desperately wants to go one step further. SOUNDBITE 2: Raila Odinga, Presidential candidate (English): "The people of this country desire change and they see me as representing change from the status quo which will enable them to realize their dreams.” Described by others as a socialist or even a communist, Raila calls himself as a businessman. He says he’ll to reduce the pay given to politicians and the president.

SOUNDBITE 3: Raila Odinga, Presidential candidate (English): "At the moment the current expenditure is just too high, we are consuming, and I will recommend not a freeze, but a reduction and I will begin with myself, I will half the pay of the President so that I can lead by example.: Raila is seen the favourite of the international community, particularly given that his main rival Uhuru Kenyatta is facing trial at the International Criminal Court on charges he orchestrated the 2007 post-election violence. Raila just hopes it’s third time lucky as he vies for Kenya's top job.

SHOTLIST: All images of the Raila Odinga rally filmed in Kisumu on the 1st March, 2013 (SOURCE: AFPTV) - VAR Raila Odinga at political rally in Kisumu SOUNDBITE 1: Vox Pop - Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka - VAR crowd and Raila Odinga at rally - SET up shot of interview of Raila SOUNDBITE 2: Raila Odinga - Images of the second Presidential debate (SOURCE: KBC) SOUNDBITE 3: Raila Odinga Raila Odinga - Raila Amolo Odinga Biography, Family, Wealth and Website | Softkenya.com Raila Odinga – Raila Amolo Odinga Biography, Family, Wealth and Website Raila Odinga Biography Raila Odinga was born at Maseno Church Missionary Society Hospital, in Maseno, Kisumu District, Nyanza Province on 7 January 1945 to the late Mary Ajuma Odinga and the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the first Vice President of the Republic of Kenya.

He went to Kisumu Union Primary School, Maranda Primary and Maranda High School where he stayed until 1962. Raila Amolo Odinga spent the next two years at the Herder Institut, a part of the philological faculty at the University of Leipzig in East Germany. He received a scholarship that in 1965 sent him to the Technical School, Magdeburg (now a part of Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg) in the GDR. In 1970, he graduated with an Msc (Masters of Science) in Mechanical Engineering. Raila returned to Kenya in 1970. In 1971 he established the Standard Processing Equipment Construction and Erection Limited (later renamed East African Spectre), a company specialized in the manufacturing of liquid petroleum gas cylinders. In 1974, he was appointed group standards manager of the Kenya Bureau of Standards. In 1978 he was promoted to its Deputy Director, a post he held until his 1982 detention.

Raila Odinga is married to Ida Odinga with whom they have four children; the late Fidel Castro, Rosemary, Raila Junior and Winnie. Raila Odinga Family Raila Odinga Children Raila Odinga married Ida Oyoo on September 1st 1973. Together they have four children, the late Fidel Castro (2015), Rosemary Akeyo, Raila junior and Winnie Irmgard. Fidel Odinga Until his untimely demise, Fidel Odinga was a businessman and a solid pillar in his father’s political endeavors. He is survived by his widow, Lwam Odinga and their son, Allay Raila Odinga. Rosemary Odinga Rosemary Odinga is a passionate educationist serving as the Director of the Raila Odinga Center. This institution is dedicated to improving education standards across the country with its main program operating out of Kibera slums in Nairobi. Rosemary Odinga has interests in snail farming and is a mother to two beautiful girls, Saphie and Senayi.

Raila Odinga Jr – Junior Odinga, Raila Jr Raila Odinga Jr, his father’s namesake, is a businessman with varied interests from energy to entertainment. He is married to Yvonne Kibukosya. Winnie Odinga Winnie serves as the Director of Green Outreach Foundation Africa, an initiative centered around renewable energy to meet the emerging demands of the modern day world. She is also a professional photographer. Raila Odinga Family Photo History of Raila Odinga Raila Odinga Detention In 1982, Raila Odinga was placed under house arrest for 7 months by then Daniel Moi, the President of Kenya. Raila was later charged with treason following his political agitation for wider democratic space and detained without trial for six years. His mother died in 1984, but it took the prison wardens two months to inform him of her passing, an experience he openly confesses as one of the most traumatizing in his hitherto eventful life.

Released on 6 February 1988, he was rearrested in September 1988 for his involvement with human rights and pro-democracy activists pressing for multi-party democracy in Kenya, which was then a one-party state. Raila Odinga was released on 12 June 1989, only to be incarcerated again on 5 July 1990, together with Kenneth Matiba, and former Nairobi Mayor Charles Rubia. Raila was released on 21 June 1991, and in October, he fled the country for Norway with a hint that the Kenyan government would attempt to assassinate him. Raila Odinga – Multi-party Politics At the time of Raila’s departure to Norway, the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD), a movement formed to agitate for the return of multi-party democracy to Kenya, was newly formed. In February 1992, Raila returned to join FORD, then led by his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. He was elected Vice Chairman of the General Purposes Committee of the party.

In the months running up to the 1992 General Election, FORD split into Ford Kenya, led by Raila’s father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, and FORD-Asili led by Kenneth Matiba. Raila became Ford-Kenya’s Deputy Director of Elections. Raila won the Langata Constituency parliamentary seat, previously held by Philip Leakey of KANU. When Jaramogi Oginga Odinga died in January 1994, and Michael Wamalwa Kijana succeeded him as FORD-Kenya chairman, Raila challenged him for the party leadership. The elections were marred by controversy after which Raila resigned from FORD-Kenya to join the National Development Party (NDP). In the 1997 General Election, Raila finished third after President Moi, the incumbent, and Democratic Party candidate Mwai Kibaki. He retained his position as the Langata MP. After the election, Raila supported the Moi government, and led a merger between his party, NDP, and Moi’s KANU party.

He served in Moi’s Cabinet as Energy Minister from June 2001 to 2002, during Moi’s final term. In the subsequent KANU elections held later that year, he was elected the party’s secretary general (replacing the late J. J. Kamotho). In 2002, the then President, Daniel Arap Moi, pulled a surprise by endorsing Uhuru Kenyatta – a son of Kenya’s first president Jomo Kenyatta to be his successor. Moi publicly asked Raila and others to support Uhuru as well. Raila and other KANU members, including his current Deputy in the CORD Coalition Kalonzo Musyoka, the late George Saitoti and the late Joseph Kamotho, opposed this step arguing that the then 38 year old Uhuru, was politically inexperienced and lacked the leadership qualities needed to govern.

The Rainbow Movement went on to join the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which later teamed up with Mwai Kibaki’s National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK), a coalition of several other parties, to form the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) that eventually defeated Moi’s protege, Uhuru Kenyatta. Raila became the second father of multi- party democracy in Kenya after Kenneth Matiba. It was at this point that he earned his nickname; to his political followers, he is also referred as “Agwambo”, the meaning of which is Mysterious One, or “Jakom”, meaning Chairman. President Kibaki failed to honor a pre-election agreement regarding political equity among the stakeholders in NARC and a pledge made to the Kenyan people to review the Kenyan Constitution within a hundred days of the election. The perceived “betrayal” led to an open rebellion and a split within the cabinet, which culminated in disagreements over a proposed new constitution for the country. The government-backed constitutional committee submitted a draft constitution that was perceived to consolidate powers of the presidency and weaken regional governments as had been provided for under an earlier draft before the 2002 Elections.

Raila opposed this, and when the document was put to a referendum on 21 November 2005, the government lost by a 57% to 43% margin. Following this, President Kibaki sacked the entire cabinet on November 23, 2005. When it was formed two weeks later, Raila and the entire LDP group were left out. This led to the formation of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) – an Orange was the symbol for the “no” vote in the constitutional referendum. Raila Odinga – 2007 Presidential Elections (ODM) while the other faction, the ODM-K, was headed by Kalonzo Musyoka. On 1 September 2007, the ODM elected Odinga as its presidential candidate in a National Delegates Conference held at the Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi. Odinga received 2,656 votes; the only other candidates receiving significant numbers of votes were Musalia Mudavadi with 391 and William Ruto with 368. Earlier, Najib Balala had withdrawn his candidature and endorsed Raila.

The defeated candidates expressed their support for Odinga afterward, and Mudavadi was named as his running mate. Odinga launched his presidential campaign in Uhuru Park in Nairobi on 6 October 2007. Following the presidential election held on 27 December, the Electoral Commission in declared Kibaki the winner on 30 December 2007, placing him ahead of Odinga by about 232,000 votes. Raila and his ODM leaders rallied against the decision with James Orengo and Prof. ANyang’ Nyong’o calling for mass action. Later violence broke out in the country after widespread incidents of police brutality. Following two months of unrest, a peace deal between Odinga and Kibaki, which provided for power-sharing and the creation of the post of Prime Minister, was signed in February 2008; it was brokered by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Odinga was sworn in as Prime Minister, along with the power-sharing Cabinet, on 17 April 2008. The post of Prime Minister was last held by Jomo Kenyatta between 1963 and 1964 following independence.

Odinga is thus the second person in Kenya’s history to hold the position. Raila Odinga – 2013 Presidential Elections Raila Odinga’s party, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) joined Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper Party and Moses Wetangula’s Ford Kenya (FK) in a CORD coalition (Coalition for Reforms and Democracy) for the presidential race with Raila as the presidential candidate and Kalonzo as his running mate. Raila ran for President in the elections held on 4 March 2013 and garnered 5,340,546 votes (43.70%) out of the 12,221,053 valid votes cast. Uhuru Kenyatta garnered 6,173,433 votes (50.51%). As this was above the 50% plus 1 vote threshold, Uhuru won it on the first round without requiring a run-off between the top two candidates. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) therefore officially declared Uhuru Kenyatta the president elect on Saturday 9 March at 2:44pm.

Uhuru was set to take office as Kenya’s 4th president. However, Raila Odinga in a press conference shortly after the results were announced noted that the election had been marred by massive failures by the BVR kits, EVID (electronic voter identification or “Pollbooks”), RTS (results transmission system or “tallying system”) and the RPS (results presentation or “transmissions system”). He stated that the manual tallying was suspect leaving him no choice but to contest the result in Kenya’s highest court, The Supreme Court. Mindful of bringing the challenge, Raila Odinga and his lawyers George Oraro, Mutula Kilonzo, and James Orengo, secretly instructed Raj Pal Senna, a Management Consultant from Barcelona to carry out a forensic investigation of the technology used in the Kenyan General Election 2013, during which the IEBC made claims on TV and media that there were “technological challenges”, that “servers overloaded” and that “database crashed”. Raj Pal Senna included in this work a forensic examination of the evidence of IEBC and Uhuru Kenyatta in relation to the technology deployed during the Kenyan Presidential Elections.

Raila Odinga and his lawyers then took appropriate legal steps to verify the findings of Raj Pal Senna by consulting authorities in the USA and the UK. The findings of the Raj Pal Senna were then documented in his witness statement for Raila Odinga, and became to be known as “Witness Statement RO6″ Kenya’s chief justice Dr. Willy Mutunga announced on Monday, 11 March that the Supreme Court was fully formed and ready to deliver its judgment within 14 days as stipulated by the Constitution of Kenya. During the Petition hearing, Chief Justice Willy Mutung made a finding rejecting second affidavit of Raila Odinga which comprised 900 pages, on the basis that it amounted to “new evidence” which is not permitted under the Constitution. Subsequently, The Supreme Court issued a ruling dismissing the petition on 30 March 2013. The Supreme Court while declaring Uhuru the next President also declared that the IEBC should not have included the invalid/spoilt votes in the calculation of the final figures and percentages.

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga also directed that the EACC (Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission) and the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) carry out a criminal investigation of the IEBC in relation to the BVR, EVID, RTS and RPS. Raila Odinga – Currently Raila Odinga now serves the Republic of Kenya as the Leader of the Official Opposition keen to ensure the full and proper implementation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the promotion of democratic ideals and the protection of equity & justice in our society. Raila Odinga Age How old is Raila Odinga Raila Odinga was born at Maseno Church Missionary Society Hospital, in Maseno, Kisumu District, Nyanza Province on 7 January 1945 to the late Mary Ajuma Odinga and the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the first Vice President of the Republic of Kenya Raila Odinga Photo Raila Odinga Profile and Timeline January 7, 1945: Raila Amollo Odinga is born.

Exiting Articles Raila Odinga attended Kisumu Union Primary School, Maranda Primary and High School, Nairobi University, and Herder Institut, a part of the philological faculty at the University of Leipzig in East Germany 1970: Raila Odinga worked as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi. 1971: Raila Odinga established the Standard Processing Equipment Construction & Erection Ltd (later renamed East African Spectre), a company manufacturing liquid petroleum gas cylinders. 1974: Raila Odinga was appointed group standards manager of the Kenya Bureau of Standards, in 1978 he was promoted to its Deputy Director, a post he held until his 1982 detention. 1982: Raila Odinga was placed under house arrest for seven months after being suspected of collaborating with the plotters of a failed coup attempt against President Daniel arap Moi in 1982. He was later charged with treason and detained without trial for six years. February 6, 1988: Raila Odinga was released from prison.

September, 1988: Raila Odinga was rearrested for his involvement with human rights and pro-democracy activists. June 12, 1989: Raila Odinga was released. July 5, 1990: Raila arrested again together with Kenneth Matiba, and former Nairobi Mayor Charles Rubia. Raila was released on June 21, 1991 June 21, 1991: Raila was released and in October, he fled the country to Norway alleging government attempts to assassinate him. October 1991: Raila Odinga fled the country to Norway alleging government attempts to assassinate him February 1992: Raila returned to join FORD, then led by his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. He was elected Vice Chairman of the General Purposes Committee of the party. In the months running up to the 1992 General Election, FORD split into Ford Kenya, led by Raila’s father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, and FORD-Asili led by Kenneth Matiba. Raila became Ford-Kenya’s Deputy Director of Elections.

Raila won the Langata Constituency parliamentary seat, previously held by Philip Leakey of KANU. January 1994: Raila Odinga’s Father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga died. 1997: In the 1997 General Election, Raila finished third after President Moi, the incumbent, and Democratic Party candidate Mwai Kibaki. He retained his position as the Langata MP. June 2001 t- 2002: Raila Odinga served in the Moi’s Cabinet as Energy Minister 2002: The then President, Daniel Arap Moi, pulled a surprise by endorsing Uhuru Kenyatta – a son of Kenya’s first president Jomo Kenyatta to be his successor. Moi publicly asked Raila and others to support Uhuru as well. Raila and other KANU members, including Kalonzo Musyoka, George Saitoti and Joseph Kamotho, opposed this step arguing that the then 38 year old Uhuru, was politically inexperienced and lacking leadership qualities to lead government.

The Rainbow Movement went on to join the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which later teamed up with Mwai Kibaki’s National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK), a coalition of several other parties, to form the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) that eventually defeated Moi’s protege, Uhuru Kenyatta. November 23, 2005: Raila opposed the draft constitution and when the document was put to a referendum on November 21, 2005, the government lost by a 57% to 43% margin. Following this, President Kibaki sacked the entire cabinet on November 23, 2005. When it was formed two weeks later, Raila and the entire LDP group were left out. This led to the formation of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) – an Orange was the symbol for the “no” vote in the constitutional referendum. August 2007: Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya split in two, with Odinga becoming head of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) while the other faction, the ODM-K, was headed by Kalonzo Musyoka.

September 1, 2007: ODM elected Odinga as its presidential candidate in a National Delegates Conference held at the Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi. Odinga received 2,656 votes; the only other candidates receiving significant numbers of votes were Musalia Mudavadi with 391 and William Ruto with 368. Earlier, Najib Balala had withdrawn his candidature and endorsed Raila. The defeated candidates expressed their support for Odinga afterward, and Mudavadi was named as his running mate. October 6, 2007: Odinga launched his presidential campaign in Uhuru Park in Nairobi on October 6, 2007, which saw a record attendance in this or any other venue in independent Kenya. The police estimated an attendance of close to 50,000. December 30, 2007: The chairman of the Kenyan election commission controversially declared Raila’s opponent, incumbent president Mwai Kibaki, the winner of the presidential election by a margin of about 230,000 votes.

Raila disputed the results, alleging fraud by the election commission but refused to adhere to the constitutional procedure and present an election petition before the courts. Most opinion polls had speculated that Odinga would defeat president Kibaki. Independent international observers have since stated that the poll was marred by irregularities favouring both PNU and ODM, especially at the final vote tallying stages. Many ODM supporters across the country rioted against the announced election results. April 2008: – Raila Odinga became the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya in a coalition government Raila Odinga Wealth and Business Raila Odinga is an industrialist with interests in liquefied gas cylinder manufacturing (the East African Spectre), industrial ethanol production and Petroleum import and distribution. Raila Amolo Odinga Link To Barack Obama In a January 2008 BBC interview, Odinga asserted that he was the first cousin of U.S. president Barack Obama through Obama’s father. However, Barack Obama’s paternal uncle denied any direct relation to Odinga, stating “Odinga’s mother came from this area, so it is normal for us to talk about cousins.

But he is not a blood relative.” Obama’s father came from the same Luo community as Odinga. Raila Odinga Video Kenya elections: Uhuru Kenyatta leads Raila Odinga - BBC News BBC News Kenya elections: Uhuru Kenyatta leads Raila Odinga 5 March 2013 Read more about sharing. Close share panel Media captionThe BBC's Sophie Ikenye reports from Nairobi, where every ballot paper is held aloft to try and ensure the election's transparency Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces trial at the ICC next month, has established a large lead over rival Raila Odinga in early results from Kenya's presidential poll. With results in from over 40% of polling stations, Mr Kenyatta has 53% of the vote, against 42% for Mr Odinga. The head of the electoral commission emphasised these were provisional figures and urged Kenyans to wait patiently for the final outcome. In 2007-8, more than 1,000 people were killed in post-election violence. Clashes broke out after Mr Odinga claimed he had been cheated of victory by supporters of President Mwai Kibaki.

Mr Kenyatta denies charges at the the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he was instrumental in organising the 2007-8 bloodshed. Violence has also marred the current election, with at least 19 people killed on Monday - mainly in coastal attacks attributed to separatists. Analysis By David OkwembahBBC Africa, Nairobi Increasing numbers of spoiled ballots have the two leading parties worried. The Coalition of Reforms and Democracy (Cord) - led by Raila Odinga, who is currently trailing in early results - wants the spoiled votes to be part of the final tally. If included, they could make the difference to whether a run-off is declared. But the Jubilee coalition, whose candidate Uhuru Kenyatta is currently leading, would prefer they were not included. The party quoted an official from a body promoting good governance - the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa - as saying there was no precedent in Kenya or internationally for invalid votes to be counted. Kenya's electoral laws classify a spoiled vote as a marked ballot placed in the wrong ballot box, a ballot that is marked twice or a ballot on which a mark goes beyond one candidate's box.

Vincent Kimosop of Kenya's Institute of Legislative Affairs told the BBC the large number of spoiled votes was down to the fact that people had to mark six different ballots instead of the three used in the last election. On Tuesday, there were reports of a blast in Nairobi's predominantly Somali neighbourhood of Eastleigh. Few details about the blast were immediately available but the Kenyan Red Cross said one person had been taken to hospital. Officials and the media urged Kenyans to put their faith in the electoral process. The election was a "turning point" whose outcome would determine whether Kenya would move forward as a "civilised state", said a Daily Nation editorial . But some 330,000 spoiled ballots have been counted so far, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) noted with concern - well over double the number of votes cast for the third-placed candidate, Musailia Mudavadi, who trailed far behind with just over 148,000 votes, or 3%. Some put this down to confusion, with voters having six ballots papers to complete, while some observers note that officials have tightened their rules on what constitutes a spoiled paper.

Late on Tuesday, the election commission chairman announced that the spoiled ballots would count in the overall vote total, the Associated Press reports, increasingly the likelihood of a run-off between the top two candidates. Kenyans also voted for members of parliament and senators, county governors and members of the 47 newly formed county assemblies. Call for patience With 42% of polling stations reporting at 21:00 Nairobi time (18:00 GMT), the 51-year-old deputy prime minister had 2.8m votes, while the 68-year-old prime minister had 2.2m, said the website of the IEBC . Media captionDr. John Stremlau says voters' patience in the blazing heat showed their "determination" None of the other five candidates for the presidency had more than 1%. The IEBC has said that the release of results has been slowed down by problems with their computer systems. It said provisional results may not be tallied until Wednesday, meaning an official declaration will come then at the earliest. "Nobody should celebrate, nobody should complain," Mr Hassan told journalists.

"We therefore continue to appeal for patience from the public." To win outright, a candidate must get 50% of votes cast plus one vote, as well as at least 25% of votes in half of Kenya's 47 counties. If no-one achieves that, the vote will go to a run-off, probably on 11 April. Meanwhile, in the parliamentary vote, marathon runner Wesley Korir has won a seat representing the Rift Valley after standing as an independent candidate. Mr Korir won the Boston Marathon in April 2012 as well the Los Angeles Marathon in two consecutive years. In a news conference, IEBC chairman Issack Hassan called for people to "resist making early judgments about who has won", and said final results would not be released within 48 hours. He said candidates and parties were under obligation to "accept the results peacefully". There are fears the loser might not accept the official result, triggering an outburst of violence.

Widespread failure of newly instituted electronic biometric voting registration (BVR) kits, reports of late voting at one polling station hours after polls closed officially, and an instance of a poll clerk issuing multiple ballots have all already been cited by Mr Odinga's party as cause for concern. Raila Odinga vs Uhuru Kenyatta Uhuru Kenyatta Son of Kenya's first President Jomo Kenyatta Due to stand trial at ICC in April accused of organising violence in last election His running mate, William Ruto, also accused Both deny the charges From Kikuyu ethnic group - Kenya's largest at 22% of population and powerful economically Kikuyus and Ruto's Kalenjin community saw fierce clashes after 2007 poll Currently deputy prime minister Son of first Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Distant relative of Barack Obama Believes he was cheated of victory in last election From Luo community in western Kenya - 11% of population.

Some Luos feel they have been marginalised by central government Third time running for president Currently prime minister under power-sharing deal to end violence last time Profile: Raila Odinga "These we find to be placing in jeopardy the credibility of this process," said Frank Bett from Mr Odinga's Coalition for Reform and Democracy (Cord). Later, Mr Odinga's running mate Kalonzo Musyoka said the party had written to the IEBC about the number of spoiled ballots and the failure of the BVR machines, which he said had opened the door to possible fraud. "We are worried on both counts," he said - adding that the failure of the BVR machines was particularly disappointing given that Kenya had spent 7bn shillings (£54m; $82m) on them. Both leading candidates have pledged to respect the result of a free and fair vote. 'Consequences' Mr Kenyatta, who heads the Jubilee alliance, is due to stand trial in April at the ICC for his alleged role in the 2007 unrest, when clashes between rival supporters degenerated into targeted attacks on members of ethnic groups linked to one or other candidate.

Mr Odinga later joined a government of national unity under a peace deal. The US and other Western allies of Kenya have warned of possible "consequences" if Mr Kenyatta wins. However, Mr Kenyatta's running mate, William Ruto, who also faces charges of crimes against humanity, insisted on Monday that they would be able to discharge their duties if elected and would co-operate with the ICC to clear their names. Both deny any wrongdoing. Lines of voters stretched outside polling stations across the country on Monday and many polling stations stayed open late into the night. Turnout was estimated at 70%. Four policemen were among the 19 killed in election-day violence mainly blamed on the separatist Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), which had demanded the elections be scrapped. Gunfire and explosions were also reported in the town of Garissa, near the border with Somalia. Gunmen stormed two polling stations after voting ended, but were forced to retreat by security forces, the deputy speaker of parliament told Associated Press.

Kenya: Raila is Best Performer, Poll Says - allAfrica.com Kenya: Raila is Best Performer, Poll Says more By Jeff Otieno Nairobi — A new opinion poll places Prime Minister Raila Odinga ahead of his principal partner, President Kibaki in performance in the Grand Coalition Government. According to the poll conducted by the Steadman Group, Mr Odinga has an approval rating of 75 per cent compared to President Kibaki’s 68 and the Grand Coalition Government’s 65. The study coincides with 100 days since the formation of the coalition that brought together political rivals President Kibaki and Mr Odinga. It means that most Kenyans interviewed by the pollsters view Mr Odinga positively when performing his duties compared to President Kibaki or the Government as a whole. The study, which was conducted between July 6 and 11, interviewed a total of 2,012 Kenyans aged 18 years and above in the country’s eight provinces. It had a +/-2.2 margin of error and a 95 per cent confidence level.

Explaining the poll's findings, Steadman Group's political consultant, Dr Tom Wolf said Mr Odinga received the highest of positive approvals compared to the Head of State. “Many Kenyans placed Mr Odinga on the 'highly approve' and 'somewhat approve' categories ahead of President Kibaki,” Dr Wolf said during the release of the survey results at the organisation's headquarters in Nairobi. However, the political analyst said any leader in the world should be happy with an approval rating of over 50 per cent especially under a difficult political arrangement like the one in Kenya. Apart from performance, Dr Wolf said many ODM supporters are still hostile to President Kibaki as a result of the outcome of last year’s presidential election. “Unlike ODM supporters many PNU supporters view Mr Odinga mildly since their candidate was sworn in as the President hence have nothing much against the Prime Minister,” he added. Dr Wolf said the approval rating of the Grand Coalition was above 50 per cent mainly because of saving the country from plunging into war rather than what it has so far done in the past six months. In fact, majority of Kenyans (78 per cent) support the power sharing agreement.

At the political party level, the agreement receives the highest rating from both PNU and ODM-K faithful at 80 percent each, with ODM followers giving it a 76 per cent score. On the provincial level, Mr Odinga’s ratings are higher than President Kibaki’s in five of the eight provinces. The PM leads his principal partner in Nairobi, Coast, Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western. President Kibaki’s ratings are higher in Central, Eastern and North Eastern. Individually, the two principals score highly than government in all the provinces except North Eastern where the grand coalition scores a high of 80 per cent. In the province, President Kibaki scores 78 per cent, three more than Mr Odinga. So far Kenyans are satisfied with the grand coalition’s performance in secondary and primary education, in which it scores 78 and 70 per cent respectively. However, the study was conducted before student riots became widespread, affecting secondary education.

Kenyans are also happy with the way the government is handling health matters, with the respondents giving it a satisfaction rating of 65 per cent, followed by electrification programme (58 per cent), water supply (58 per cent) and road construction and rehabilitation (55 per cent). The public, nonetheless, is unhappy with the way the government is handling the rising poverty levels, unemployment, the skyrocketing food prices, corruption in the public sector and crime. All have an approval of below 50 per cent. According to the survey, the public also wants the government to give more attention to the resettlement of internally displaced refugees, constitutional reform, investigation of election violence and tackling the land question. Of the three political parties forming the grand coalition, most Kenyans identify themselves with Orange Democratic Movement (53 per cent), followed by Party of National Unity at 29 per cent. ODM-Kenya is at seven per cent, other smaller parties (four per cent), while a further seven percent do not align themselves with any political party. Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ).

To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. AllAfrica publishes around 1,000 reports a day from more than 140 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals , representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica . To address comments or complaints, please Contact us . BBC NEWS | Africa | Odinga: Kenya's king-maker By Noel Mwakugu BBC News, Nairobi New prime minister Raila Odinga has spent his life seeking power in Kenya and was instrumental in President Mwai Kibaki's 2002 election victory. Opposition leader Raila Odinga has long eyed the top job But when the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) elected him as their flag-bearer for last year's elections, analysts predicted that the king-maker was set to become king.

That predication, however, did not come to pass and instead he has become prime minister after reaching a power-sharing deal with his ally-turned-rival Mr Kibaki following a bloody dispute over the presidential elections. Although he hoped to be president, Mr Odinga will now have to share executive roles with President Kibaki in an arrangement championed by the international community. During his long political career, he has been in and out of a veritable alphabet soup of political parties. His critics call him a "party-wrecker", who would do anything to achieve his political ambition. He ran for office against former President Daniel arap Moi in 1997. Although he trailed in third, that 1997 run secured for Mr Odinga a national profile from which to launch his future presidential bid. Political lineage Mr Odinga is the son of Kenya's first post-independence vice-president, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who split with Kenya African National Unity (Kanu) founding father Jomo Kenyatta in 1966.

Raila Odinga has a powerful grassroots organisation Raila, a mechanical engineer by profession, was accused of plotting a coup against President Moi in 1982, charged with treason and detained without trial for six years before fleeing to Norway in 1991. But he returned the following year to join his father's new party, the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (Ford). On Jaramogi Odinga's death, Raila challenged Michael Wamalwa Kijana for the leadership of Ford-Kenya and lost, so left to join the National Development Party (NDP). After the 1997 elections he merged his NDP with Kanu but was passed over for the Kanu leadership and formed the Rainbow Movement in protest. The Rainbow Movement went on to join the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and then to form the ODM. Daredevil Raila Odinga has a powerful grassroots organisation and with this kind of political clout - and a forceful personality to match - he has been able to influence the political agenda in Kenya. PROFILE Kibaki: Dream or nightmare?

He has what some describe as a daredevil character, that is the boldness both to challenge and openly criticise his opponents, a trait which has won him friends and enemies in equal measure. To his supporters he is known affectionately as Agwambo [mysterious in his Dholuo language], and budding politicians from Nyanza have often sought his blessing to launch their careers, feeling that without his nod, they would be bound to fail. In 2002, Mr Moi reached out to him as he sought to repair his dented political image. Mr Odinga disbanded the NDP and regrouped his political forces in Mr Moi's Kanu, becoming the party's secretary general as part of the deal. 'Captain is injured' Political analysts at the time predicted that there would be a further falling out between the seasoned duo and it came in 2002, when Mr Moi hand-picked Uhuru Kenyatta to succeed him as Kanu's presidential candidate, in defiance of calls for a ballot.

Mr Odinga is described by some as a daredevil Mr Odinga duly walked out, along with key ministers from Mr Moi's government to form the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) party which brought Mr Kibaki to power. He was seen as instrumental in President Kibaki's victory despite the serious injury he incurred in a pre-election accident. "The captain is injured but the struggle continues," Mr Odinga declared and Kenyans for the first time voted for an opposition candidate en masse. But he soon fell out with his new ally and launched the ODM in opposition to Mr Kibaki's government to campaign for a No vote in the 2005 constitutional referendum. Hands-on Mr Odinga accused Mr Kibaki of being insincere and failing to live up to his promises to tackle corruption, and now hopes to unseat him. Diehard supporters of this East German-trained mechanical engineer believe he could be the right person to deliver the much-wanted changes to Kenyan politics: to put an end to tribalism, nepotism and corruption and bring Kenya into the modern age.

As a prominent and successful businessman (he runs the engineering firm Spectra International) he is experienced in global corporate practices and says he intends to inject this knowledge into his administration to reconstruct Kenya's economy. His supporters say Mr Odinga is fearless and can be the hands-on president Kenya needs to mend the decades of misrule. But his detractors say he is a dictator in the making, who will shove aside anyone who does not toe the line. Raila Odinga writes to Uhuru Kenyatta ▷ Tuko.co.ke Tweet it! Share on Facebook Send via email - Raila Odinga has written to Uhuru Kenyatta seeking a dialogue on the way forward regarding the opposition's calls to have the IEBC disbanded - He said he and the opposition have a number of issues they want discussed before the country heads into the next General Election - The opposition has been claiming the electoral body has a pan with Uhuru's government to rig the presidential elections in 2017 Raila Odinga has written to Uhuru Kenyatta requesting for a meeting in which he wants the opposition to discuss issues around the Independent Elections and Bounderies Commission (IEBC).

READ ALSO: Raila’s statement on ‘nusu mkate’ claims and anti-IEBC demos The opposition leader said on Tuesday, May 10, that they have a series of issues they want resolved before the next General Election. This comes a day after opposition politicians and their supporters engaged police in running battles in Nairobi and Kisumu town. READ ALSO: Youngest Senator admits to lying about his age This was part of the countrywide protests aimed at compelling the IEBC officials out of office. READ ALSO: Read Raila’s statement on why he is leading a march to the IEBC offices again In previous statements, Uhuru Kenyatta has accused the opposition of trying to use illegal means of removing IEBC commissioners. He asked them to follow the law, which is going through parliament, to have the commission disbanded but Raila Odinga will hear non of that. At the press conference, Raila Odinga displayed bullet cartridges that were apparently used on Monday, May 9, during the demonstration in Nairobi against the IEBC. Raila urged his supporters not to give up until the current IEBC commissioners are out of office.

READ ALSO: ODM governor takes off from funeral ceremony following Namwamba lecture The former prime minister reiterated that CORD would continue with the nationwide anti-IEBC demonstrations until their demands are met. On the legality of the anti-IEBC demonstrations, Raila maintained that the coalition was within the law to hold such protests. Related Stories

Question: Raila Odinga, aged 68, is the current Prime Minister of which country ?
Answer: KENYA