Thomas Okelo-Odongo

Thomas Okelo-Odongo (1927–1991) was a Kenyan politician, economist, and diplomat. He was elected as an MP for Kisumu Rural in 1963 under the Kenya African National Union party (KANU), serving as Assistant Minister for Finance. He later defected to the Kenya People's Union (KPU) founded by then ex-Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. He spent the latter part of his career serving on various executive boards of international financial organizations.

Personal life Thomas Okelo-Odongo was born in 1927 to Luo parents in Owaga Ward, Kisumu, Kenya. In 1960, they moved to live in London, England, before moving to Kenya in 1962 on the eve of the country's independence as the Commonwealth realm of Kenya. Upon returning to Kenya, Carolyn renounced her American citizenship due to Kenya's prohibition of dual citizenship at the time.

On 22 August 1966, Carolyn was arrested at their home after serving as a private secretary to Odinga. She was detained for 2 years and 4 months without access to visitation on ambiguous charges under the Preservation of Public Security Act. She was the first woman in Kenya to be detained without due process.

Thomas Okelo-Odongo died on 20 September 1991 at an unspecified Aga Khan Hospital in Kenya. However, Okelo-Odongo was re-elected in the 1966 by-election in Kisumu Rural constituency. That same year, he was also appointed chairman of the Board of Directors of Kenya Reinsurance Corporation by the then Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Mwai Kibaki. During his appointment, he also became the secretary general of the African insurance Organization following its establishment in 1973.

He was appointed a director of the African Development Bank from 1976 to 1979 in Côte d'Ivoire. He served as secretary-general until the end of his appointment in 1984, being succeeded by Edwin W. Carrington of Trinidad and Tobago.