Raila Odinga is an icon of progress, and it's proven by history

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga with his Running Mate Martha Karua during a rally in Dagoreti, Nairobi on July 16, 2022. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

With just about three weeks to the August 9 General Election, let’s try to demystify opposition leader Raila Amolo Odinga. What distinguishes Raila as an icon of progress and democracy? Partly, it is his modus of reinvention. He is not the kind of man to be swept along by tides of time or currents of politics.

His inventiveness in life and in politics often result in a fascinating synthesis of progress. If the current of the river of politics is the thesis, Raila will often provide a studied anti-thesis which challenges the prevailing discourse. He knows how to read the zeitgeist - the spirit of the times.