[Oburu Oginga (left) with Raila Odinga in a past event. A veteran journalist claims that Oburu is a blessing in disguise to Raila Odinga. Photo/Nation]
Viewed as a quiet politician despite coming from a prominent family nominated MP Oburu Oginga is ironically a blessing in disguise to his outspoken younger brother Raila Odinga.
With the latter being a headache to political establishments in the country, the former lives a quiet life and is believed to be only working behind the curtains for his younger brother.
And journalist Oscar Obonyo says Raila Odinga’s success in politics should be directly attributed to his elder brother Oburu, who suffered at the hands of subsequent governments due to their father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga leftist politics.
According to Obonyo, political establishment were keen to antagonize Oburu, who they thought would be an automatic heir of his aging father.
“Raila Odinga’s success is attributed to Oburu. Authorities were keen to antagonize him to prevent him from joining his father’s league,” he argues on Sunday Nation.
“The younger Odinga joined politics out of convenience having been employed by government because they viewed him as a technical person,” he adds.
But President Daniel Arap Moi’s plans could have been a miscalculation because Odinga, who is running as NASA presidential candidate, went on to be the biggest headache on political establishment in the country.
Although he was first elected to parliament in 1992, his elder brother would get his fair share two years later when he became Bondo MP following the demise of his father and former Vice President Jaramogi.
Oburu served as MP for 20-yrs before quitting in 2013 and was subsequently nominated by ODM party to parliament.