ODM's Raila Memorial Tour: Every Stop From Kakamega to Nairobi

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has given the whole of October 2026 to the first anniversary of Raila Odinga's death and calls it "Mwezi wa Baba". The programme it published on 10 September opens with a candle-lighting at 6pm on 2 October and a memorial rally in Kakamega Town on 9 October. It closes with a rally in Nairobi on 31 October, after stops in Bondo, Garissa, the Coast, Kajiado and Turkana.

Raila died in Kochi, India, on 15 October 2025. The main memorial service is planned for the anniversary itself, at Kang'o Ka Jaramogi in Bondo.

The stops, in order

ODM released the schedule below, and Citizen Digital, The Standard and the Nation reported it between 10 and 14 September 2026. None of these events had taken place when this was written on 23 September.

The Nation's Moses Nyamori, writing on 14 September, described the Mombasa leg as a two-day event. Citizen and The Standard listed it only as "Coast" activities, without naming a town.

Why the route looks the way it does

Only the Bondo days are on ODM's home ground. Everywhere else, the party has a governor to defend or a partner to reassure.

Take Kakamega, the opening rally. The contest for the Luhya vote in Western Kenya is open, and in early September more than 25 MPs were reported to have endorsed Cooperatives CS Wycliffe Oparanya as ODM's pick for Deputy President. Fernandes Barasa (Governor, Kakamega) won on an ODM ticket in 2022. Why the region matters so much is covered in why Western Kenya could decide 2027.

The Coast leg lands on a live fight. Abdulswamad Nassir (Governor, Mombasa), one of ODM's deputy party leaders, faces UDA Secretary-General Hassan Omar and Suleiman Shahbal, who quit ODM on 10 September. And the Kajiado stop comes after Joseph Ole Lenku (Governor, Kajiado) threatened in August to cut ties with any party that fielded a non-Maasai candidate for a seat he regards as Maasai. The Star reported on 8 September that he had also threatened to leave ODM.

Garissa and Turkana take the party north. On 13 September The Star put both among ten "forgotten" counties that could decide whether a presidential candidate meets the 25 per cent rule in 24 counties.

What ODM says the month is for

The party's statement asked supporters to "rededicate their commitment to Baba's ideals", The Standard reported. ODM national chair Gladys Wanga (Governor, Homa Bay) framed the route as running "from Bondo to Garissa, from Kakamega to Nairobi and all over Kenya", according to the Nation.

The Nation was blunter on 14 September. It reported that the party means to use the anniversary to rally support for President William Ruto's 2027 re-election bid, and that a pre-coalition agreement between the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and ODM was expected once the tour was over. A ten-member technical team set up by Ruto and ODM leader Oburu Oginga (Senator, Siaya) was drafting a joint manifesto. That team's origins are in what came out of the Naivasha retreat.

ODM deputy leader Simba Arati (Governor, Kisii) put the party's price in the same Nation report: "There are no other stories because in the next government we have to get half of all positions."

The family has its own plans

Raila's family announced on 13 September that Prof Adams Oloo would chair a commemorative committee. Its statement said: "This anniversary belongs neither to an individual nor to an institution. It belongs to the people whose lives Baba touched."

Two days later the Nation reported open friction. Ruth Odinga (Women Rep, Kisumu) accused unnamed officials of planning around "ODM cups and tents". Her niece Winnie Odinga, an East African Legislative Assembly MP, said the family did not want the anniversary to be "a day of gatekeeping because people did not get enough time to mourn him". The committee said it would publish a programme open to Raila's allies and opponents alike. As of 23 September no such programme had been released, and it was not clear how the Bondo days would be divided between family and party.

Who leads ODM through October

ODM goes into its biggest month since the funeral with its leader out of the country. Oburu flew to the United Kingdom for a medical check-up on 6 September and said on 10 September that his deputies, Arati and Nassir, would help run the party while he was away. The state of the party since Raila's death is set out in ODM's factions and its pact with UDA.

Kakamega on 9 October is the first real test of crowds and of who gets to speak. The Nairobi rally on 31 October matters for a different reason: the Nation expects the UDA-ODM pre-coalition agreement to be put on the table after it.