DNK International By Our Reporter, Nairobi.
When Mama Ida Odinga unveiled the national steering committee for the first anniversary of the death of former Prime Minister Raila and ODM leader Raila Odinga on Thursday one name stood out as the family’s choice to lead the sensitive assignment.
The person by the family of the late Raila through his widow Oda Odinga is none other than Professor Adams Oloo.
Oloo is a political scientist, university don and experienced political strategist who has for years operated behind the scenes in some of Kenya’s most important political negotiations and campaigns.
His appointment to chair the committee reflects his long association with the late Raila, his knowledge of the former Prime Minister’s political journey and his experience dealing with political institutions, government and academia.
The committee brings together representatives of government, political institutions, civil society, academia, the private sector and the Odinga family, with Rarieda MP Dr Otiende Amollo serving as deputy chair.
Ida said the celebrations are intended to give Kenyans who did not get an opportunity to mourn Raila adequately a chance to remember and celebrate his life.
Prof.Oloo from a past interview with. Daily News Kenya-International it emerged that his academic journey was extensive.
He studied at the University of Nairobi, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Law before pursuing a Master’s degree in Government.
He later proceeded to the University of Delaware in the United States, where he obtained a Master’s degree in Political Science and a PhD in the same field.
He is also an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
Oloo built his professional career largely around academia, governance and political science.
He became a lecturer and later an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Nairobi, where he has taught and researched political governance, public administration, public policy, political economy, global governance and international relations.
He has also served as chair of the university’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration.
The Oxford Handbook of Kenyan Politics lists him among scholars who have published widely on Kenyan politics.
His professional interests, however, gradually took him beyond the lecture hall and into the centre of Kenya’s political decision making.
Oloo became closely associated with the late Raila, serving as an adviser during the former Prime Minister’s presidential campaigns, including the 2013, 2017 and 2022 elections.
He was also appointed vice-chairperson of the Building Bridges Initiative task force associated with the political cooperation between former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila.
In 2023, he was part of the Azimio technical team supporting the National Dialogue Committee talks between the Kenya Kwanza and Azimio coalitions.
Records lists Oloo alongside Jeremiah Kioni, Abubakar Zein Abubakar and Lynn Ngugi on the Azimio technical team.
His relationship with Raila did not end with campaign strategy.
Oloo became one of the people involved in the broader political negotiations that eventually brought Raila’s ODM closer to President William Ruto’s administration following the 2022 election.
Ironically, his political expertise also earned him a place in Ruto’s administration.
In December 2024, President Ruto appointed Oloo as Advisor for Strategy and Communication in the President’s Council of Economic Advisors.
The appointment notice said the appointments were made on the recommendation of the Public Service Commission and in accordance with the law.
The appointment however short lived.
In January 2025, Oloo resigned from the presidential advisory position after being selected to serve on the panel responsible for recruiting commissioners for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
He said he had consulted with Ruto before resigning and wanted to participate in the IEBC process without perceptions of partiality.
The episode demonstrated the unusual position Oloo occupied in Kenyan politics: a scholar with longstanding links to Raila who could simultaneously be entrusted with a senior advisory role in Ruto’s administration.
His political career has therefore not been that of an elected politician.
Instead, Oloo has largely operated as a strategist, academic, adviser, negotiator and commentator, roles that have given him access to political leaders while keeping him outside the direct contest for elected office.
His academic expertise in politics and governance have been cited by his peers as having closely matched Raila’s long running interest in constitutional reform, democracy, elections and public policy.
It is this combination of institutional knowledge and personal familiarity with Raila’s political history that helps explain why the Odinga family turned to him for the anniversary assignment, although the family has not publicly given a detailed explanation of why he was selected beyond announcing him as chair of the steering committee.
Oloo from records was married to Consolata Ohito Oloo, who died in 2018 after falling ill.
At the time, Oloo was serving as chair of the Political Science and Public Administration Department at the University of Nairobi.
In his latest assignment, Oloo has emphasised that the anniversary is not intended to become the property of a particular political group.
Speaking on Thursday,he said the celebrations would be national and open to people from different religious, political and regional backgrounds.
He also stressed that partnerships entered into by the committee would require the blessing of the Odinga family.
His most memorable recent remark perhaps captures the philosophy behind the assignment: “This celebration has to be national; it knows no religion, it has no boundary. It has to reflect what Baba was.”
He described the commemorations as family led and said the committee’s responsibility is to operate within the principles laid down by Ida Odinga.
His approach places him once again in a familiar role,working behind the scenes to bring together competing interests around a political figure he advised for years.
The first anniversary of Raila’s death will therefore give Oloo perhaps his most public organisational responsibility in relation to the former Prime Minister: not campaigning for him, negotiating on his behalf or advising him on politics, but helping a family and a nation organise how they remember one of Kenya’s most consequential political figures.
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🗓️ [Daily News Kenya-International@September 18,2026]
