Raila Odinga met his wife Ida Odinga while he was a lecturer at the university of Nairobi in the early 1970s.
Raila Odinga was related to his current wife Ida Odinga even before he first met her and as he narrates, it was love at first sight.
According to the opposition chief, his wife also doubles up as his sister-in-law by virtue of the fact that her sister is married to Raila’s cousin. In an interview with KTN, Raila Odinga revealed that he met Ida while he was a lecturer at Nairobi university and way before he had joined active politics.
According to the Azimio leader, he and his cousin had gone to visit Ida’s brother who lived in Pangani estate then. When they got there, they found Ida and her sisters, they were actually having a family get together at the time.
While he was instantly captivated, Ida says she never thought of anything beyond just friendship. But Raila Odinga being the man he is, hatched a plan to meet Ida again and pour out his heart to her
Ida admits that when she fell for her husband back then, she was sure he would never join politics. Whats more? she and her friends were trying to avoid marrying potential politicians. While the tradition in most Kenyan communities prohibit sisters or cousins from getting married in the same home or marrying ladies they have family relations to, the Luo community has no such limitations.
In fact brothers can marry two ladies who are sisters just the same way male cousins can marry ladies who are cousins the way Raila and his cousin married from the same family. Raila married Ida Oyoo Odinga on September 1 1973 and together they have four children including the late Fidel Odinga who passed on in January 2015.
