Rachael Tabitha: Meet 24-Year-Old Student Leader Running Raila's Youth Wing

Before the Azimio la Umoja anti-government protests that kicked off on Sunday, February 5 at Kamukunji grounds in Kibera, Nairobi, the name Rachael Tabitha was unheard-of.

When the Movement for the Defence of Democracy (MDD) was unveiled by the party leader, Raila Odinga on that day, Tabitha exploded into an internet sensation mainly due to her ravishing good looks and fierce attitude in her commitment to defending Raila and democracy as a whole.

However, the million-dollar question one might ask remains, who is the gorgeous woman currently serving as the deputy chairperson of the MDD movement?

Rachael Tabitha with Azimio la Umoja leader, Raila Odinga as they cut his cake on his birthday on January 7, 2022. /FACEBOOK

According to spot checks conducted by Viral Tea on her social media platforms, Tabitha has a Bachelor's degree in communications and public relations and works as the Deputy President of the Kenya University Student Organization (KUSO).

She is also a member of the East African Youth Parliament and also works with the Babu Owino communications team under the Embakasi East Member of Parliament (MP), which makes her a journalist and media personality, in a way.

The 24-year-old, who is part of the Jeshi Ya Baba movement, opened up on her journey to politics which she started at the age of 15 when she used to campaign for her father, who was an MP from 2013 to 2022. 

"Many people don't know where I have come from. I started campaigning when I was 15 years old. I moved from Nairobi to the village. My father who raised me is a politician. He served two terms as an MP.

"He just failed in this previous election. I used to campaign for him when I was young. I used to be on those caravans and I was controlling many things," Tabitha told Sauti TV.

She further narrated fighting past accusations of using her beauty to be with veterans in the Azimio campaign trails, terming her fast rise to her brain, strategy and prayers.

"If you want to go far as a woman, you should just read about those things, but they should not get into your head.

"People will always think that as a woman you must be favoured and that you must use your body to rise. But it is not like that," she added. 

On critics slamming her move to support the former Prime Minister, Tabitha expressed her fearlessness in various situations, noting that one won't do anything while being clouded by fear.

"Cowards die many times If you live in fear, you'll never do anything. And also fear is generated in our minds so if at the end of the day, all of us have to die, then why should I fear death?" she posed.

Tabitha was one of the student leaders notably arrested on the weekend before the March 20, 2023 protests by the Azimio coalition by police who accused the students of holding an unauthorized meeting at Chester House in Nairobi to advise their followers ahead of the demonstrations.

"No amount of intimidation will make university students across the country not show up for tomorrow's protests. I would like to thank Raila because Kenyan students have gone through a lot of problems and that was even the reason why we did a press conference yesterday.

"It took place because many of your children are in high school and university. They are postponing meals...they are not eating because the government has refused to disburse HELB (funds), it is even to blame for the rise of LGBTQ issues in Kenya, this government is to blame for even the rise of gonorrhoea in Nairobi, it is to blame for very many social vices that we have seen in this country," her senior, KUSO President Anthony Manyara revealed during a church service on Sunday, March 19 which was attended by Raila.

The MDD, which Tabitha and Manyara are part of, came into prominence when more than 40 youths were arrested after they staged similar protests at the Kenya Railways roundabout and outside Kenya National Archives. The group, which was also arraigned in court, had staged an illegal assembly and it had not informed the authorities of its plans to picket.

During the arrest, police confiscated 75 beige shirts that the protesters were dressed in. The police also confiscated 29 red berets with a badge labelled Movement for the Defence of Democracy, 97 miniature Kenyan flags, blue helmets and packets of plastic whistles.

The movement draws its membership from across the country, including university students, and their brief is to execute Raila’s resistance plan. According to its Twitter bio, MDD believes in democracy, the rule of law, and free, fair, verifiable elections as well as representing the true voice of the people of Kenya.

Rachel Tabitha and Anthony Manyara with ODM leader, Raila Odinga. /FACEBOOK.RACHAEL TABITHA