Ida Odinga. Photo: Government of Thailand via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
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Mama Ida hands Raila Junior to Kibra voters for 2027.
Mama Ida Odinga has publicly backed her son, Raila Odinga Junior, to run for the Kibra parliamentary seat in the 2027 General Election.
She made the endorsement on Monday, 24 August 2026, while marking her 76th birthday at her home in Karen, Nairobi. Reports say hundreds of Kibra residents attended the celebration.
"Kibra residents, if you've decided, then I don't have much to say, but I put him in your hands," she told the gathering, adding that residents had come to her saying "mtoto wa simba ni simba" – a lion's cub is a lion.
She asked the constituency's leaders to guide him. "All of you who have come here at the front, I have given you my son. Take care of him, teach him and remind him. Many of you started with the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in 1992. Show him the way," she said.
She also set the tone she expects from the campaign: "Run clean politics, not of insults, chaos or violence. It should be clean. Convince people with your words and what you can do for them."
Mama Ida said she will not campaign herself because of her post as Kenya's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Environment Programme.
What it means for Kibra
Raila Junior announced his bid on 3 August 2026 after meeting elders from all five Kibra wards – Laini Saba, Lindi, Makina, Woodley/Kenyatta Golf Course and Sarang'ombe. He has acknowledged that Peter Orero is the sitting MP but argues the constituency needs someone deeply familiar with the area.
The endorsement is the first public family backing in what is shaping up as a contest for the ODM ticket in the constituency Raila Odinga represented for two decades.
Sources: The Star; Capital FM; Taifa Leo
That was a Kibra News Network report, read by an A I voice.
Mama Ida Odinga has publicly backed her son, Raila Odinga Junior, to run for the Kibra parliamentary seat in the 2027 General Election.
She made the endorsement on Monday, 24 August 2026, while marking her 76th birthday at her home in Karen, Nairobi. Reports say hundreds of Kibra residents attended the celebration.
“Kibra residents, if you’ve decided, then I don’t have much to say, but I put him in your hands,” she told the gathering, adding that residents had come to her saying “mtoto wa simba ni simba” — a lion’s cub is a lion.
She asked the constituency’s leaders to guide him. “All of you who have come here at the front, I have given you my son. Take care of him, teach him and remind him. Many of you started with the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in 1992. Show him the way,” she said.
She also set the tone she expects from the campaign: “Run clean politics, not of insults, chaos or violence. It should be clean. Convince people with your words and what you can do for them.”
Mama Ida said she will not campaign herself because of her post as Kenya’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Environment Programme.
What it means for Kibra
Raila Junior announced his bid on 3 August 2026 after meeting elders from all five Kibra wards — Laini Saba, Lindi, Makina, Woodley/Kenyatta Golf Course and Sarang’ombe. He has acknowledged that Peter Orero is the sitting MP but argues the constituency needs someone deeply familiar with the area.
The endorsement is the first public family backing in what is shaping up as a contest for the ODM ticket in the constituency Raila Odinga represented for two decades.
KNN Newsroom is the staff byline for stories written, rewritten and edited at the Kibra News Network desk. Where a story credits an outside outlet, the original source is linked at the foot of the piece.
