NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 13 — She calls herself “the woman who birthed ODM.”
Twenty years later, Jane Wangui — now Nairobi County’s Chief Officer for Trade and Markets — looks back with quiet pride at a decision that altered the course of Kenya’s political history.
In 2005, long before the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) became synonymous with Raila Odinga, Wangui was part of the small team that registered the party, envisioning a movement that would give voice to the young, the poor, and the marginalized.
“I gave birth to a new political force, and Raila gave it life,” Wangui says, her words a blend of conviction and nostalgia.
Then a youthful activist from Dandora with a passion for justice, she teamed up with lawyer Mugambi Imanyara to register ODM — unaware that the name would soon define a national movement.
“I grew up seeing inequality everywhere — poor roads, hunger, no access to school or health care. That’s what drove me to seek change through leadership,” she recalls.
As the 2005 constitutional referendum split Kenya into the “Orange” and “Banana” camps, Raila Odinga, then a Cabinet Minister, sought a platform that resonated with the reformist spirit of the Orange team.
“One evening, I received a call saying someone wanted to see me. When I went outside, I found H.E. Raila Odinga waiting in a car. He told me I had something he needed — the ODM Party,” Wangui recounts.
That conversation would mark a turning point in her life and in Kenya’s political trajectory.
She handed over the leadership of the newly registered party to Raila, stepping down as Secretary General to allow Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o to take over. Wangui was appointed Secretary for Special Programmes in the party’s National Executive Council.
“Raila saw potential in me that no one else had seen. He became my destiny helper,” she says.
“Even after his passing, I still live by his lessons — loyalty, conviction, and fidelity to a cause.”
Her loyalty to Raila Odinga would later see her appointed as his Youth Affairs Advisor during his tenure as Prime Minister.
Despite unsuccessful attempts to capture the Embakasi North parliamentary seat in 2017 and 2022, Wangui’s political faith in ODM remains unshaken.
“If you call it a cult, so be it. But to me, Baba was a movement — a belief in justice, fairness, and equality. I have never betrayed him,” she says.
Now, as ODM marks its 20th anniversary in Mombasa, Wangui views the milestone as a deeply personal moment — a celebration not just of a party, but of her own journey from Dandora to the heart of Kenya’s politics.
“ODM shaped my life and gave me purpose. Raila created spaces for women like me to lead. I am what I am because he believed in me,” she reflects.
The ODM@20 celebrations — marked weeks after Raila’s burial following his passing on October 15 — will bring together founding members and allies, including President William Ruto, former President Uhuru Kenyatta, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, and Prof. Julia Ojiambo.
For Wangui, the event is both political and deeply emotional.
“Raila’s legacy is not in buildings or titles — it’s in people like us who continue to carry his dream forward,” she says. “I only wish he could come back for one day, just to see how far we’ve come.”
