Authors Malkiat Singh, Lily Nyariki and Winnie Odinga receive Raila Odinga's posthumous induction into the Kenya Publishers Association Hall of Fame for his contribution to Kenya during the Nairobi International Book Fair on September 24, 2026. /ENOS TECHEEALA MP Winnie Odinga has opened up about the bittersweet lessons she learnt about politics from her late father Raila Odinga’s long political career, saying the experiences reshaped how she views elective leadership.
Speaking on Thursday when she represented the Odinga family as Raila was inducted into the Kenya Publishers Association Hall of Fame at the Nairobi International Book Fair, Winnie said her father’s book, The Flame of Freedom, continues to anchor her nascent political career through his lived experiences.
“When somebody you love dies, you begin looking for them everywhere; in photographs, in old messages, in videos, in things they said that you didn’t pay attention to. And books give us something extraordinary - they allow somebody who is no longer here to speak again. The Flame of Freedom gives me just that,” she said.
“I can open a page and hear my father’s mind working.”
Raila died on October 15, 2025, after a career in formal multiparty politics spanning more than four decades. He was 80.
Winnie recalled growing up and witnessing first-hand the political upheavals her father endured, saying he always somehow managed to weather some of the most difficult storms.
She particularly recalled the period Raila spent in detention, when he remained in touch with his family through letters, some of which would arrive six months later.
“I witnessed the struggle for multiparty democracy. It wasn’t something I came to read later in a book. I knew the meetings, the marches, the fear, the intimidation, the funerals, the arrests. I knew the men who stood up when standing up came with a price,” she said.
She said she learnt that politics comes with both victory and defeat, and that life must continue after a political contest does not go one’s way.
Winnie said she also discovered, through the difficult political phases her father went through, that a bosom friend could turn into a sworn enemy.
“I knew marvellous friendships, the kind forged in struggle, the kind where somebody stands beside you when there’s nothing to gain by standing beside you. And I knew glorious betrayal too, the kind only politics can manufacture, where today’s sworn enemy becomes your brother and occasionally where your brother can wake up and discover that he loves the enemy more than you,” she said.
Winnie said that despite the difficult moments, she discovered a stubborn kind of hope that refuses to die even in the face of disappointment, betrayal, prison, elections and age.
Through Raila’s book, Winnie said she had learnt the beauty of someone leaving behind their own account of the events and life they experienced, rather than allowing the story to be told by someone else.
“Because eventually the rallies end, the posters come down, governments change, and politicians who once swore they would never sit together somehow discover that the chairs next to each other are quite comfortable - but your written word remains.”
Winnie said through his book, young Kenyans who never met Raila can still see what he believed in and assess whether the Kenya he fought for became a reality.
“And I think he would have liked that. Knowing him, he would have probably joined the argument. So publishers, I want to say something very simple - keep publishing the difficult ideas. Publish people you agree with, publish people you disagree with.”
