Tributes pour in from across the world for the Kenya's late Raila Odinga

Tributes have been pouring in from across the world for the late former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga who died on Wednesday.

They described the “president that Kenya never had” as a towering leader who left a legacy of democracy in his homeland.

Odinga was one of Kenya’s most influential and enduring political figures despite failing five times to win the presidency.

The country’s President William Ruto paid tribute to him, describing Odinga as a “once-in-a-generation leader”, the “father of Kenyan democracy”, and a man whose ideals transcended politics.

Odinga had recently signed a political pact with Ruto that saw his opposition party involved in government policymaking and its members appointed to the cabinet.

Born in 1945 in Kisumu, a city on the shores of Lake Victoria near the border with Uganda, he was the son of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice president.

Odinga attended local schools before leaving to study engineering in what was then East Germany.

Returning home in the 1970s, he taught at the University of Nairobi and started a range of businesses, including a successful one that sold liquid petroleum gas cylinders.

Odinga first rose to prominence in the 1980s as a political activist fighting against the one-party rule of President Daniel arap Moi.

His struggle against the dictatorship saw him detained twice, the first time for allegedly participating in a failed coup attempt.

Odinga was detained 1982 to 1988 and again from 1989 to 1991 – fleeing the country following his release in June that year amid fears of an assassination attempt.

He returned to Kenya in 1992 and won a seat in the national assembly as an opposition lawmaker representing a constituency in Nairobi.

Odinga’s first bid for the presidency was in the 1997 general election, and his last was in 2022, when he was backed by the outgoing president, Uhuru Kenyatta, in a race against Ruto.

He lost again and went on to assert that he had been cheated of victory, and launched a wave of street protests.

An avid football fan and known for his signature slow-motion dance at rallies, “Baba” as Odinga was affectionately called, is survived by his wife Ida and three of his four children.

His death not only marks the end of an era for a towering pan-Africanist, but also leaves a significant vacuum in the country’s political opposition ahead of the 2027 elections.

Ruto announced that there will be seven days of mourning for Odinga and a state funeral with full military honours.