Mbagathi Way in Kenya’s Capital Nairobi is now Raila Odinga Way.
A road sign bearing the name of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader was erected on Thursday night.
This comes weeks after the Nairobi County Assembly passed a motion to rename the road in honour of the former Prime Minister, a key figure in the fight for multi-party democracy in Kenya.
The motion that was approved mid-October was sponsored by Makongeni MCA Peter Imwatok.
The ward representative argued that Odinga has greatly improved Kenya’s democratic and economic development and there was a need to immortalise him.
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Imwatok told the assembly that deserving leaders should be recognised while they are alive, not when they die.
“He fought for greater democratic space, good governance, rule of law and development of infrastructure against many odds, including detention without trial for 10 years,” said Imwatok while moving the motion.
He promised to engage the city’s Deputy Governor Ann Kananu to ensure the process of renaming the road was expedited.
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“I will personally reach out to the Deputy Governor to see to it that Mbagathi Way is renamed after Raila,” he said.
Nominated MCA Mary Arivisa conquered with Imwatok’s remarks adding that the city leadership and the executive should also rename public institutions after Odinga.
“We had written to the Ministry to rename Mbagathi Primary School to Raila Odinga Primary School but it was a challenge since it was named after the road. Now that the name of the road will be changed, it shouldn’t be a problem,” she argued.
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