Akinyi Wenwa: Meet Raila Odinga’s favourite sister after rare public appearance
By Luke Oluoch, October 19, 2025Raila Odinga’s sister, Wenwa Akinyi Oranga, made a rare public appearance as the siblings of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga were introduced at Raila Odinga’s burial in Bondo on Sunday, October 19, 2025.
Raila Odinga had repeatedly made reference to their little-known, third-born daughter, whom his brother, Oburu Odinga, introduced as Dodi.
“I am Wenwa Akinyi, the daughter of owad ga Akinyi (brother of Akinyi). I am the eldest daughter. Oburu is the firstborn, but I am the eldest daughter, so it’s my responsibility to introduce the other Jaramogi daughters,” she said.
Wenwa boasts a remarkable professional career as a retired senior lecturer in organic chemistry from the University of Nairobi and a former consul general at the Kenyan Consulate in Los Angeles, USA.
She also has extensive experience in the public sector, having worked at the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya in Nakuru, an organisation that processes and markets pyrethrum-based products, a natural insecticide.
She joined the Board as a Senior Chemist in charge of Research and Development before being promoted to Chief Chemist, becoming the first woman to lead a department at the organisation.
Locally, she became the first Kenyan woman to obtain a doctorate degree in chemistry.
In her tribute to Raila, Wenwa recounted how Raila used to cook for them, furnishing further credence to an earlier tribute of Raila’s love for news as told by his brother, Oburu Oginga.
Raila the caretaker
“Whenever he was left to look after us, he would abandon me and go to listen to the news. I was not more than six then. He would go to cook while it was news time; he would put me there to listen to the news and then tell him later what had been said. I would only hear the name of the newsreader and some advertisement,” she recalled.
In November 2024, she was appointed the Chairperson of the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute for three years by President William Ruto.
Wenwa introduced her children, Jaramogi Orango and daughter Miriam Wenwa Oranga, who introduced herself as a musician before proceeding to sing the Hallelujah song.
Other sisters introduced at the burial include Ambassador Akinyi Walkowa Odinga and Emily Anyango Oginga, who made a lengthy tribute to Baba’s political career spanning across the African continent.