Prophet Owuor baptizing Raila. (Photo/ Nipate.com)Born in the 7th January 1945, Raila Odinga, heir to the then doyen of opposition politics the late Jaramogi Odinga, was baptised as a Legio Maria during his formative years.Wikipedia notes that later on, Raila became born again through Evangelical Church in Nairobi. Yet Raila's religious orientation is somewhat scanty. Many of his ardent followers do not know where exactly to place Raila in terms of his religious orientation. At one point, Raila was seen being baptized by Prophet David Owuor of The Repentance Ministry, further making it difficult to place him.Raila Is a firm believer in Luo values and way of life. He is partially influenced by African Traditional Religion, particularly the Luo system of believe where 'Were'( the God of the rising sun) reigns supreme. As the late Dr. Margaret Ogola notes in her epic novel ' The River and the Source', that the believe in the god of the rising sun is one of the central pillars which keeps the Luo people together.It would therefore be right that Raila Amolo Odinga is largely influenced by the African Traditional Religion.One can easily see this influence in the fact that the Raila family has deliberately chosen to shun the so called ' Christian names' like Joseph, Daniel amongst others.His love for the flywhisk has further helped to cement this view.Raila would therefore be argued to be a firm believer in African way of life and religion, a trait he must have acquired from his father Jaramogi.

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