Former Trade Cabinet Secretary Mose Kuria has written to the Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba requesting the Ministry to rename the Technical University of Kenya (TUK) after the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Born at the Anglican Church Missionary Society Hospital in Maseno, Kisumu District, Nyanza Province, on 7 January 1945, he went to Kisumu Union Primary, Maranda Primary in Bondo, and Maranda High School, where he studied until 1962, when he was transferred by his father to Germany.

Raila Odinga spent the next two years at the Herder Institution, which trained foreign students in the German language and was part of the philological faculty at the University of Leipzig. In 1970.

After graduating with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, the ODM party leader returned to Kenya to become a lecturer at the University of Nairobi. During his time at the university, Odinga also engaged in engineering-related business ventures, including one that would later become East African Spectre, Ltd, before he left the university in 1974.

Following his contribution to the Technical University of Kenya, then an extension of the University of Nairobi, Kuria has suggested that it will be a great honour to rename the institution he served for two years after his name.

Kuria’s suggestion

”The Technical University of Kenya (TUK), previously The Kenya Polytechnic, was once the engineering wing of the University of Nairobi. Engineer Raila Odinga was not just a lecturer at UON School of Engineering,” Kuria took to X on Saturday, October 18, 2025.

The former Gatundu South Member of Parliament also added that if he were in charge of the education docket, he would not hesitate to rename the Technical University of Kenya following its former lecturer’s demise.

”He was also an ardent believer in technical education since his days at Madelberg College in Germany. I have today written to Education CS Julius Ogamba requesting to rename the Technical University of Kenya to Raila Odinga Technical University. If I were CS, I would do it straight away, ” Kuria said.

Raila Odinga died of cardiac arrest on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, while undergoing treatment in India. The former prime minister will be laid to rest on Sunday, October 19, 2025, in his Bondo home, Siaya County.