Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945), also popularly known to his supporters as
Agwambo (meaning the "Mysterious One"),
Tinga,
Baba,
RAO, and
Jakom ("Chairman") is a
Kenyan politician. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament for
Langata in 1992, served as Minister of Energy from 2001 to 2002 and as Minister of Roads, Public Works, and Housing from 2003 to 2005. He was the main opposition candidate in the
2007 presidential election. Following a violent
post-electoral crisis, Odinga took office as Prime Minister in April 2008, serving as supervisor and coordinator of a national unity coalition government. He came in second in Kenya's
2013 presidential elections after garnering 5,340,546 votes which represented 43.28% of the total votes cast. Son of first
Vice President of Kenya,
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the family's origin in Kenya's
Luo tribe has been a key to their political activity. Raila is commonly known by his
first name due to coincidence: he was an MP at the same time as his father between 1992 and 1994. In Raila Odinga was a presidential contender in the 1997 elections, coming third after President
Daniel arap Moi of KANU and
Mwai Kibaki, the former
president of Kenya and then a member of the
Democratic Party. Odinga campaigned to run for president in the December 2007 elections on an
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket.