Raila finally resurfaces online after 2-week social media absence

ODM party leader Raila Odinga has resurfaced online after more than two weeks of social media hiatus and absence from key public events, including the burial of former Cabinet Minister Dalmas Otieno in Migori on October 2, 2025.

Raila on Friday, October 3, 2025, shared multiple posts both on his X and Facebook accounts after weeks of inactivity.

“As the new football season kicks off, I had the pleasure of being briefed by Gor Mahia @OfficialGMFC Football Club’s executive team, led by Chairman Ambrose Rachier, on the club’s campaign plans for the season. Wishing K’Ogalo all the very best as they fly the Green flag higher and strive to return as champions once again. Let’s go Gor Mahia! 👏🏾🏆,” Raila posted on Friday after meeting Gor Mahia’s officials.

Before his social media return today, the last post Raila shared on his X account was on September 17, 2025.

Raila’s last Facebook post before today was on September 17, 2025.

Speculations had been rife about Raila’s whereabouts following his unusual absence from social media and disappearance from key social events.

Dalmas Otieno’s burial

Raila’s absence from Dalmas Otieno’s burial in his Migori political backyard raised eyebrows, thought it was not entirely shocking.

Raila and the late Dalmas Otieno, who began his political career under the KANU regime in the late 1980s, had a history of political tensions.

The late cabinet minister, who served in key ministerial roles including Industrialisation, Labour, and Transport, had occasionally clashed with Raila during the formative years of the opposition movement.

Tensions first became apparent around 2002 when Otieno was involved in an attempted merger of KANU with Raila’s National Development Party, a move seen as an effort to curb Baba’s growing influence in Nyanza.

The effort ultimately failed, prompting Raila to form the ODM, cementing a perception of rivalry between the two leaders.

Despite this, the two experienced a temporary political alliance between 2007 and 2013.

Otieno joined ODM, won the Rongo parliamentary seat, and participated in post-election negotiations that helped end the 2007-2008 post-election violence, working alongside international mediators such as former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

During the subsequent coalition government, Raila became Prime Minister, and Otieno was appointed Minister of State for Public Service.

The political relationship, however, deteriorated again after the 2013 elections when Otieno lost his parliamentary seat.

In 2014, Otieno launched the Kalausi movement, an independent political outfit aimed at challenging ODM’s dominance in South Nyanza and ’emancipating’ the region from over-reliance on Raila’s leadership.

This move strained his ties with ODM loyalists, and Otieno failed to regain his political foothold, losing the 2017 ODM primaries to Paul Abuor and running unsuccessfully as an independent candidate.

Otieno once reflected on his political journey, saying, “My challenge in politics came as a result of Luoland that you had to be a Raila person to be elected. My capacity and standard I didn’t have these skills to be somebody’s person… Between me and Raila, we had no conflict, but people created the conflict.”

In recent years, Otieno remained largely sidelined in politics.

The decision by Raila to skip Otieno’s funeral, therefore, was seen by observers as consistent with their long-standing, complicated political relationship.

Raila’s reemergence on social media may signal a return to more visible political engagement, coming at a time when Kenya’s political landscape continues to evolve ahead of forthcoming by-elections.

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