Let it not be a rumour: Winnie Odinga declares Nairobi Senate bid

Winnie Odinga announces bid to contest Nairobi County Senate seat. [File,Standard]

Winnie Odinga has declared her intention to contest the Nairobi Senate seat in the 2027 General Election.

“Let it not be a rumour. I will contest the Senate seat of Nairobi County,” Winnie announced on Thursday during the first anniversary commemoration of her father, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, in Bondo, Siaya County.

Her announcement puts the seat held by Edwin Sifuna in focus as he pursues his own presidential ambitions through the Linda Mwananchi movement, which has endorsed him as its presidential candidate for the 2027 election.

Sifuna won the Nairobi Senate seat on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket in the 2022 General Election.

Winnie said she wanted other young people to join her in seeking elective positions across the country, including governor, senator, member of Parliament and member of county assembly.

“I am going with young people. I want young people across this country to prepare to stand,” she told the gathering, urging them to enter politics and work towards change.

Her announcement came as she addressed questions about her absence from public life since Raila died in India on October 15, 2025, aged 80, while receiving medical attention.

Winnie explained that losing her father had taken a heavy emotional toll and that she had expected to mourn for a month before returning to her usual activities.

“I thought I would take just one month to grieve and then return. But grief does not read the calendar. There were days when I had words but no strength to say them. There were days when I had strength but no words. There were days I simply needed to grieve,” she said.

She added that even during her silence, she heard people asking where she had been and what direction she intended to take.

Winnie said she had reflected on what her father would expect of those who continued to invoke his name a year after his death.

She challenged supporters to consider whether they had spent the year negotiating political positions and taking photographs or improving people’s lives in line with Raila’s ideals.

“If Baba Raila Odinga was here today and he asked where we had been during the one year he had been away, what would you tell him?” she asked.

“Would we tell him how many positions we negotiated? How many photographs we took? How many times we used his name? Or would we show him people whose lives became better because we remembered what he stood for?”

Winnie described Raila’s vision as one in which every Kenyan had an opportunity to build a decent life, regardless of their background or surname.

She said many Kenyans had lost hope after applying for jobs, running businesses, working and voting without seeing their lives improve.

She pointed to the financial pressure on households forced to choose between rent and school fees or food and medicine, saying her father had wanted a country where hard work offered people a chance to succeed.

His vision, she added, included access to medical treatment without families having to rely repeatedly on public fundraisers and timely payment for farmers so they could support their families.

Winnie urged Kenyans to measure Raila’s legacy by whether his ideals improved people’s lives rather than by the political positions his name could help others secure.