It was not only a physical alteration that took place when Mbagathi Way was relabeled Raila Odinga Way in October 2021, the change of the signs indicated a different thing. Hence, this was a homage to the person whose impact on Kenya’s political and infrastructural landscape will still be there for years.
Currently, the cement road in Nairobi that stretches over two kilometres serves as a relic of the late Raila Amolo Odinga’s inspiring heritage.
Five years back, the Nairobi City County Assembly, with Peter Imwatok, then Minority Leader, in the lead, passed a motion to rename Mbagathi Way to Raila Odinga. The motion recognized Odinga’s enormous contribution to Kenya’s political, social, and economic changes, a move that showed the celebratory spirit of his influence while he was alive.
The road that joins Lang’ata Road and Ngong Road is a dual carriageway that is easily recognizable because of its flawless, cemented surface, which is quite different from the regular bitumen roads in the city.
However, there may be very few people who remember that this road, which was built almost 20 years ago, was one of the pilot projects led by Raila Odinga when he was Minister for Roads and Public Works in 2003.
In those days, Raila was actively advocating replacing traditional tarmac with cement-based ones for road construction. Apart from that, his objective was to lessen the frequent repair works of roads that would have been done in the future thereby cutting maintenance costs, and also making roads last longer in this case Kenya’s infrastructure, a timely idea to keep away the taxpayers’ money.
Twenty years later, this road is still in great condition without any potholes and this is evidence not only for the brilliance of the idea but also the visionary who made it possible.
To many Kenyans, Raila Odinga Way transcends being just a locally known urban road; rather it is a memorial to a leader who not only foresaw the necessary changes, but also, in reality, he made tangible implementations.
Such motorists who drive along this road are not just using one of Nairobi’s roads; they’re tracing history through a road, which reflects the individual it commemorates.
