Kenya has always revered political symbols — from Kenyatta’s mausoleum in Nairobi to Moi’s resting place in Kabarak and now the fallen former late Prime Minister Raila Odingas grave at Kang’o ka Jaramogi.
The family compound at Kang’o ka Jaramogi, where Raila now rests beside his father Kenya’s first post-independence Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, has long carried historical weight.
The Green Congress of Kenya party leader Hillary Alila launched his political bid and Road to 2027 since taking over the leadership by opening the party’s office in Raila’s Siaya backyard termed as the cradle of Kenya’s reform politics — a space that has produced and buried two of the country’s fiercest opposition icons Raila and Jaramogi Odinga.
The newly opened office in Siaya will be the party’s political shrine as Alila who rose from serving as the GCK chairman before taking over the party leadership as the party leader from the former Rangwe Member of Parliament Martin Ogindo on October 17th, 2023, is seeking to rebrand the political outfit into a formidable force in the country’s political scene.
The “Why Siaya?” – Honouring a Legacy, Launching a Future, ” Alila responded to the question.
“Today, we gather not just for an opening, but for a homecoming. We are here to plant the deepest roots of the Green Congress of Kenya in the very soil where the flame of transformative politics in Kenya was lit. We are establishing a home for our ideals in the cradle of liberation, ” he declared.
People may ask, “Why start in Siaya and not in the skyscrapers of Nairobi?” Our answer is written in the history of this great land.We begin here because the journey of a thousand miles must begin where the heart is. Our political heart, as a party of change, beats in rhythm with the legacy of a son of this soil, the Right Honourable Raila Amolo Odinga. “
Alila said Siaya is not just a location on the map.
It is the symbol of resilience, the birthplace of courage, and the wellspring of progressive thought. To start in Nairobi would be to build on sand.
“To start here in Siaya is to build on the solid rock of principle, sacrifice, and unwavering belief in the people,” he said.
He added: “We are here to inherit and modernize that legacy. The legacy of fighting for the common citizen. The legacy of championing green energy and environmental justice. The legacy of believing, truly believing, that power belongs to the people. “
