The family of the departed former Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga is famed as one of the richest in the nation, a claim that is apparently true.
But this was not always the case, with the fortune reducing after Oginga fell out with his boss Jomo Kenyatta in 1966.
According to Jaramogi's daughter and former Kisumu County Deputy Governor Ruth Odinga, the situation was so dire that she was at some point forced to hawk merchandise in the streets of Kisumu.
Then a pupil at Victoria Primary School in Kisumu, Ruth started hawking mangoes to get something for ice cream and other kids’ stuff, after his father was thrown into detention after his 1969 verbal exchange with Kenyatta in Kisumu in 1969.
‘’When my father was in detention, I was hawking mangoes to get money for gubit and ice cream, says Ruth according to the Standard.
Ruth would later go through more in the hands of Kenyatta and his successor Daniel Moi who took over when the founding father gave his final bow in August 1978.
“Our families know each because of politics but I have really suffered,” she is further quoted by a Standard publication dated March, 29, 2017.
His elder brother Raila Odinga also suffered because of politics, including many arrests, at some points going to exile to escape the government's hand.
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