Former Prime Minister and Kenya’s long-serving politician, the late Raila Odinga, was always concerned over the slow pace of the country’s industrialisation and economic growth compared to global peers, Ida Odinga said.
In an emotional tribute to her husband, during Raila’s burial in Bondo yesterday, Ida noted that her late husband was disturbed that at the time of independence, Kenya was at par with countries like South Korea and Thailand.
“He was always disturbed with the fact that Kenya was not moving as fast as he expected. I think we were even ahead of many other large countries. But these countries have moved very fast. Kenya, we are still dragging a little. This thing can be changed,” she said.
Ida noted that her late husband was not only a production engineer, but he also practiced it.
He started East
Africa Specter, a regional leader
in gas cylinders manufacturing,
which was incorporated on January 27, 1989 as Spectre International Limited.
Raila, in a past social media post has narrated how he started his journey into entrepreneurship from scratch.
At some point, he was forced to sell his Opel left-hand drive car to finance the acquisition of equipment from an Indian entrepreneur who had been exiled from Uganda and was keen on disposing of his assets.
He used the money from the car sale to acquire machines that he used to set up his manufacturing company, which is at the core of his multi-billion-dollar business empire.
“The entire machinery was being sold at Sh12,000, which I didn’t have; my salary was only Sh2000, so I sold my car to raise the cash and that is how I started East Africa Spectre Company,” Raila had said.
Yesterday, Ida urged those who are working for East Africa Specter, “to keep up his legacy of making it a big industry that he intended it to be.”
Raila also built a multi-billion-shilling business empire that has remained largely out of the public spotlight, with investments, together with family and partners, spanning oil and gas industries, real estate, manufacturing and agriculture, among other ventures.
Ida yesterday said Kenya can equally catch up with the first world, urging the leadership to build wealth for the country, rather than individual.
“It can be done. Even in Kenya, we can change it. With hard work, determination, focus, we can change our country. I know we have leaders here. Please focus in changing the country. Let us not seek leadership to enrich ourselves,” she said.
“Let us not seek leadership to acquire wealth for ourselves but acquire wealth for Kenya and acquire wealth for our generation to come. In the name of Raila, I appeal that we focus on national wealth instead of personal wealth.”
Away from Kenya, Raila played a pivotal role in driving the African growth agenda, with a keen focus on infrastructure development, trade integration and job creation— a Pan-Africanist who had a dream for the continent.
As the African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development (2018-2021), he championed regional development with a keen focus on missing links along the transnational highway corridors identified as part of the Trans-African Highways Network, with a view to facilitating their development and modernisation.
Raila believed that African countries should be able to trade freely among themselves through the African Continental Free Trade Area, and the skies should be open through the Single African Air Transport Market.
“For all this to happen, we need to stay focused on the priority infrastructure projects and start with the key ones already identified in PIDA (Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa) and Agenda 2063. Having an integrated approach will help us realise quick wins,” he said during a forum he had attended in Johannesburg.
