Emerging details indicate that veteran politician Jaramogi Oginga Odinga might not have been completely of the Luo descent, and might have had a certain percentage of Luhya origin.
This is according to his former classmate at Maseno Secondary School Joseph Otiende, who would later serve under him in the first government.
Jaramogi would later serve as President Jomo Kenyatta's Vice President after the fall of the British colonialism, with Otiende under him as the independent Kenya's first Education Minister.
Though very less is said about Jaramogi's childhood, including the identity of his parents, with many records only beginning at the schooling level, Otiende says that he was related to the royal Mumia family of Mumias.
In an interview with Standard Digital before his death in 2017, Otiende who was also the first lawmaker for Vihiga constituency claimed that Jaramogi was not only a Luo but has relationships with the family that ruled the Wanga people.
"Jaramongi and I were classmates at Maseno. He is not only a Luo, but also has relations with the Mumia family in Mumias," he is quoted.
However, despite the revelation, at no point was Jaramogi, who would later exit the government over ideological differences with Kenyatta, quoted acknowledging the same throughout his life and neither is he recorded as having visited the region in that context.
His profile also indicates that he was born in Bondo, Siaya County, where he is buried, making the puzzle harder.
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