Raila Odinga is the spinal cord of Kenya’s politics. He dictates that happens in the political arena. Described as the best president Kenya never had, Raila Odinga has steered the opposition politics ever since he joined politics. He has also been described as the enigma of Kenya’s politics. He has crisscrossed the country with different political parties and coalitions.

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National Rainbow coalition (NARC)

It was Raila who ended the former president Daniel Arap Moi’s 27 year rule. He achieved this by parting ways with the ruling KANU party and forming Rainbow movement. According to www.wikipedia.com, the rainbow movement comprised of disgruntled KANU members who exited KANU.The exodus, led by Raila Odinga left Moi shaking.

The Rainbow movement then joined the opposition party Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to form National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) with Mwai Kibaki as the flag-bearer. It was this coalition that ejected Moi from the throne.

Coalition for reform and democracy (CORD)

Raila Odinga parted ways with Mwai Kibaki and formed the orange democratic movement (ODM) in the run up to the 2007 general elections. He vied against the incumbent Mwai Kibaki and became second according to the election body. But according to him, he won the elections.This led to post-election violence which saw 100,000 Kenyans dead and close to 600,000 displaced.

After talks led by Kofi Annan, Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki agreed to form a coalition government with Mwai Kibaki as the president and Raila Odinga as the prime minister. This arrangement ended the post-election violence.In the run up to 2013 general elections. Raila Odinga formed Coalition for reform and democracy (CORD).A coalition of several opposition parties. This is the political vehicle that he used to run against Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee party.

National Super Alliance (NASA)

After “losing” the 2013 elections, Raila Odinga’s ODM joined up with other parties to form another coalition in the run up to the 2017 general elections. He became the flag-bearer of National Super Alliance (NASA).Again he “lost” the elections of August 2017 and boycotted the repeat elections of October 26 2017.

Now that he has agreed to work with Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee party, we do not know what he is upto.Maybe he is gearing towards forming another coalition as we move closer to 2022 elections. Only time will tell.