Ajuma Jaramogi Oginga Odinga (1912-1994) was one of the leaders of the African political organizations which secured Kenya's independence. He was a foremost critic of Kenya's ruling party after he resigned as the country's first vice-president in 1966, and he remained a vocal opposition leader until his death.

Oginga Odinga was born in 1912 at Bondo in Nyanza Province, Kenya, a member of the Luo people. His father, a woodworker, selected him as the only child the family could afford to educate. Young Odinga attended Maseno Secondary School and Alliance High School, finishing his formal education with a diploma in education from Makerere University College in 1939. From 1940 to 1942 Odinga taught mathematics at the Church Missionary Society school at Maseno, and from 1943 to 1946 he was headmaster of the Maseno Veterinary School. In 1947 he moved to the business world, founding the Luo Thrift and Trading Corporation; he served as its managing director...