NASA leader Raila Odinga at a past rally. [PHOTO/the-star.co.ke]
NASA leader Raila Odinga has many names.
He is called Baba just as he is called Jakom, Hummer or Tinga.
Well, we know he was named 'Tinga' in the 90's when he headed the National Development Party (NDP) whose symbol was the tractor (Tinga in Kiswahili).
He was named Hummer after a Hummer car he imported in the early years of the millennium.
But where did the name Agwambo come from and what does it mean?
The name has remained a mystery until recently.
In the Luo language, Agwambo can be translated to mean 'Mysterious' or 'Unpredictable'.
Who named him?
Grace Akumu, widow to former Cotu Secretary General Denis Akumu (late), has claimed to be the one who 'donated' the name to the NASA leader.
She said her husband and Raila's father Jaramogi were good friends who visited each other while they lived in the same neighbourhood of Jericho Estate in Nairobi's Eastlands.
She said that while Raila went to visit them one time in the 80s after being released from detention, he lost his way to her house.
"He (Raila) had just come from detention, and he was coming to visit us when he lost his way to our house. He then tried to inquire from the neighbours," she narrated.
"Most of the neighbours referred to my husband as 'Baba Agwambo' (Agwambo's father) since I had a child named Agwambo. So the neighbours brought him to our house."
She says that it was then that Raila got impressed by the name and asked to use it as his own.
"Raila was impressed by the name, and as he was leaving he jokingly said he would wish to adopt the name, and we reluctantly allowed him," she said.
And that is how Agwambo became Agwambo!