Ida Odinga

Ida Odinga
Spouse of the Prime Minister of Kenya
In office
17 April 2008 – 9 April 2013
Preceded by Ngina Kenyatta
Succeeded by Post abolished
Personal details
Born 1950
Spouse(s) Raila Odinga
Children Four

Ida Betty Odinga[1] (born 1950) is a Kenya businesswoman, activist and educator. She is the wife of Raila Odinga, the former Prime Minister of Kenya.[2][3][4]

Odinga was born Ida Anyango Oyoo in 1950.[2] She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Nairobi in 1974 when she was 24 years old.[2][4] She worked as a teacher for more than twenty years after graduation.[4] She married Raila Odinga, with whom she has four children.[1]

Raila Odinga was imprisoned in 1982 as a political prisoner by the government of President Daniel arap Moi.[1] Ida Odinga largely raised her children herself during those years while working as a teacher.[3][5]

Odinga founded the League of Kenya Women Voters in 1991,[3] which promotes opportunities for women in the political arena.[2][5] She served as the chairperson of the League.[4] She has also championed a host of other causes, many focused on women, children and health in Kenya.[3] Odinga has advocated for the prevention of breast cancer, fistulas, and chigoe fleas.[2] She has also mentored Kenyan schoolgirls and sat on the board of directors for an organization which aids paraplegics.[2]

She became the managing director of the East African Spectre, a liquified gas cylinder manufacturing company, in 2003, becoming one of the first women to head a major Kenyan corporation.[2][3]

In 2010, Standard Digital News named her the second most powerful woman in Kenya.[2]

In a 2012 interview with CNN International, Odinga elaborated on her life as a politician's wife. She told CNN's Felicia Taylor, "It's good to be a wife, but it's good to be an educated wife. Being a wife, it's just not a position of subordination -- it's a position of strength."[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Vogt, Heidi (2008-02-28). "Kibaki, Odinga have a long history". Associated Press (USA Today). Retrieved 2012-08-09.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Top most powerful Kenyan women". The Standard Digital. 2010-10-23. Retrieved 2012-08-09.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Taylor, Felicia (2012-06-22). "Why Ida Odinga is not your average politician's wife". CNN - African Voices. Retrieved 2012-08-09.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Vogt, Heidi. "Lady Ida Odinga". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2012-08-09.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Ida Odinga on Her Life, Marriage and Children – Wife to Kenya Prime Minister Raila Odinga (Drum February 2011)". Drum (Kenyan magazine). 2011-02-28. Retrieved 2012-08-09.