Even in silence Rao summons his supporters to the streets...

Thousands of mourners at Kasarani Stadium for public viewing of Raila Odinga's body. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

He helped make a president and stabilised three hobbling regimes. But he never claimed the presidency, a prize that eluded him in five attempts, out of which he was cheated at least once, by most estimates.

Even so, Raila Odinga, the towering eminence of Kenya’s politics, who died on Wednesday aged 80, was considered by his most ardent supporters to be their ‘president,’ to be ‘the People’s President.’