‘We were terrified of them!’ Ida Odinga explains why Moi Girls avoided St Patrick’s Iten boys
During a high-society dinner fundraiser at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi on Friday evening, February 27, 2026, Mama Ida Odinga, the wife of the late Prime Minister Raila Odinga, cracked ribs as she recounted her high school days to a high-profile audience.
The event was organised by the Moi Girls Eldoret Alumnae Association to support infrastructure projects at the school that shaped many of Kenya’s female leaders, including First Daughter Charlene Ruto.
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Amidst the clinking of glasses and the presence of Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen, Mama Ida revealed that while the girls of Moi Girls were high achievers, they met their match in the champions of St. Patrick’s High School, Iten.
Addressing the crowd with a mischievous glint in her eye, Mama Ida confessed that the boys from the legendary athletic powerhouse were far too intimidating for her and her classmates to handle back in the day.
Directing her hilarious trip down memory lane toward CS Murkomen, she admitted the girls were often left speechless in the presence of the school’s famous runners.
“Hon Murkomen, my son, I am so happy to see you here, thank you. You know, during our days we could not even talk to those boys from St. Patrick’s Iten,” she confessed to roars of laughter.
“Mheshimiwa ahh, St Patrick’s Iten. But there’s something that was so special about St Patrick’s Iten—the runners, marathoners. Those ones we feared you for that.”
She went on to praise Murkomen, an alumnus of the ‘fear-inducing’ school, for his rise to power.
“You’ve become champions in other spheres, like he [Murkomen] has become a champion in many ways. I always follow what he is doing, and I am proud of you,” she added.
The lighthearted ribbing took a poignant turn when CS Murkomen rose to respond.
Rejecting any lingering high school rivalry, the Cabinet Secretary paid a glowing tribute to the woman he considers a maternal figure in his political life.
Murkomen revealed that his connection to the Odingas dates back to his earliest days in politics, long before he became a central figure in the current administration.
“Even if you refused to tell us to say hi those days, nko hapa (I am here),” Murkomen joked.
“And I consider myself your son by age but also by the mentorship that the late Prime Minister gave to me. And as you know we have a very special friendship with him. He identified me when we were starting ODM and putting me in many places before I joined politics later,” he added.
The Alumnae Association event brought together various leaders and old girls committed to upgrading the prestigious institution.
Mama Ida used the platform to urge the current crop of students to shed the fear she once felt and instead be bold in their professional lives.
