Ida Odinga

Ida Betty Odinga is a Kenyan businesswoman, activist, and educator. She is the widow of Raila Odinga, the former Prime Minister of Kenya and the leader of the National Super Alliance (NASA). In 2010, The Standard named Odinga, as one of the first women to head a major Kenyan company, and one of the most powerful women in Kenya in 2010. The couple married on 1 September 1973 and have four children. One of their children, Fidel Odinga, died in 2015.

Career She worked as a teacher for more than twenty years after graduation. Her students included the late Governor of Bomet County, Joyce Laboso. However, Ida Odinga was later expelled from her teaching position and from her home on the school campus by the Kenya African National Union-led government due to Raila Odinga's political opposition. While she publicly supported the bill, which she said would increase leadership posts for women MPs, Odinga also noted that women had never had the opportunity to compete equally with male politicians in politics. However, the bill failed to pass in the National Assembly in February 2019, despite vocal support from Ida Odinga, President Uhuru Kenyatta, and other prominent politicians and activists.

In June 2020, Ida's husband, a former prime minister, traveled to the United Arab Emirates for hospital treatment.

Her husband died on 15 October 2025.

Controversy

Regulation of churches Earlier this year, Ida Odinga called for the regulation of churches to tame the unchecked mushrooming of worship centers across the country. She said the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) should also ensure church leaders are taken through training for quality service to the congregants. This sparked a heated debate on the internet, forcing her to withdraw and apologize because the remarks made didn't sit well with some members of the clergy. She also stated that her remarks were blown out of context. Ida had, however, received backing from the Atheists Society in Kenya, which demanded that churches not run by theologians should be abolished. She is also an ardent advocate for religious neutrality in the public education system.