ODM Party Leader Oburu Oginga at Lake Naivasha Resort during a broad-based Government retreat on August 10, 2026. He is back in the country after a three-week stay in the UK for medical attention.Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Dr Oburu Oginga is back in the country after a three-week stay in the United Kingdom for medical attention.He returns to a busy political and party calendar that will place him at the centre of events marking the first anniversary of the death of his younger brother, Raila Odinga.Dr Oginga returned to the country last Friday, September 25, with the party announcing his return the following day and saying the Siaya Senator was ready to resume his responsibilities.His return comes at a critical moment for ODM which has lined up a month-long programme to honour Raila, its founding leader, as it navigates a changed political landscape following his death in India on October 15, 2025.Dubbed “Mwezi wa Baba”, the programme will begin on Friday, October 2, with a nationwide candle-lighting ceremony and include rallies and memorial activities in different parts of the country before culminating in Nairobi on October 31.Dr Oginga therefore returns to a party preparing for one of its most politically significant periods since Raila's death.During his absence, ODM has operated under the stewardship of National Chairperson Gladys Wanga, who has led a series of activities, including mobilisation in the Maa community and Nyanza.His absence was particularly conspicuous during President William Ruto's recent five-day tour of Nyanza, where Ms Wanga and other senior ODM officials accompanied the President and openly backed the broad-based government arrangement.The tour provided a snapshot of the political direction taken by a section of ODM under Dr Oginga's leadership since Raila's death.Ms Wanga told President Ruto during the tour that almost the entire ODM leadership in Nyanza was present, with only one senior leader missing — an apparent reference to Dr Oginga, who was then in the UK.President Ruto used the tour to emphasise his relationship with ODM and his intention to continue working with the party as part of the broad-based government.“I want to assure you, as the national leader and as a student of the late Raila Odinga, that we will walk together. ODM and UDA are not competitors; they are partners in the broad-based government,” Dr Ruto said in Kisumu.ODM party leader Dr Oburu Oginga. He is in the United Kingdom for medical attention.Dr Oginga's return now gives him an opportunity to take charge of the party's affairs as debate over ODM's future intensifies.ODM has planned activities across several regions, beginning with the October 2 candle-lighting ceremony. The party will hold a major memorial rally in Kakamega on October 9, followed by activities led by the Raila family between October 10 and 15.The main memorial service is scheduled for Kang'o Ka Jaramogi in Bondo on October 15, exactly one year after Raila's death.The programme will then move to Garissa on October 17, the Coast on October 18 and 19, Kajiado on October 21 and Turkana between October 23 and 25 before concluding with a major rally in Nairobi on October 31.The anniversary preparations have, however, also exposed differences over who should lead the commemoration.Raila's widow, Mama Ida Odinga, has separately established a national steering committee to coordinate family-led celebrations.The committee, chaired by Prof Adams Oloo and deputised by Rarieda MP Dr Otiende Amollo, brings together representatives from government, political institutions, civil society, academia, the private sector and the Odinga family.Mama Ida said the celebrations would be about the people who loved Raila and that the family would retain a central role in determining partnerships and activities.“This celebration does not belong to the committee; it belongs to the people. Baba's people are all welcome,” she said.The family committee's programme is expected to run from October 10 to 17, overlapping with ODM's own month-long calendar.The parallel preparations have raised questions over the ownership and character of the anniversary, with ODM and the family organising separate programmes to honour the former Prime Minister.For Dr Oginga, therefore, the anniversary season will be both commemorative and politically consequential.Raila's death left ODM facing the difficult task of redefining itself without the politician who had dominated its identity for decades.Mama Ida Odinga and Siaya Senator Oburu Oginga during Raila Odinga’s funeral in Bondo, Siaya County.Dr Oginga, Raila's elder brother, took over the leadership of the party amid competing views about its political direction.The party has since become divided between leaders supporting continued cooperation with President Ruto under the broad-based government and those who have joined the Linda Mwananchi movement and positioned themselves in opposition.
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