Sasha Seraphine Mbote, popularly known as Sasha Spice Afrika, first came under the national spotlight in 2017 following a controversial photo with Kenyan political icon Raila Odinga. What began as an innocent fan encounter in Zanzibar quickly evolved into a storm of public scrutiny, online harassment, and political speculation — a saga that continues to shape Sasha’s public life years later.
The 2017 Photo Incident
In November 2017, just weeks after Kenya’s Supreme Court upheld Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential win, Sasha posted several photos on social media showing her posing with Raila Odinga at Zanzibar’s Park Hyatt Hotel.
Odinga, who had traveled to Zanzibar during a period of political tension, was at the center of intense national attention. The timing of the photos — so soon after the disputed election — led to widespread assumptions and viral gossip suggesting an affair between the two.
Sasha, however, consistently maintained that the meeting was purely innocent. In interviews and later in a 2022 conversation with Lynn Ngugi, she explained that she was simply a fan overwhelmed to meet one of Africa’s most influential political figures.
“I called out to him — ‘Oh my God! Baba!’ — and he smiled, shook my hand, and introduced me to his team,” she recalled. “I just wanted a photo to show my parents. I never imagined it would turn into something so ugly.”
According to Sasha, businessman Jimi Wanjigi, who was present, encouraged her to take the photo, jokingly saying, “He is your Baba, Baba wa Kenya.”
The Fallout
Within hours of posting the photos, Sasha was bombarded with vicious online abuse, accusations of an affair, and media intrusion. She later revealed that the backlash ruined her life — bringing emotional trauma, death threats, and public humiliation.
“I was treated like a criminal for meeting someone I admired,” she said. “It was a moment of pride that turned into years of pain.”
Her social media pages were flooded with insults, and tabloids ran sensational headlines painting her as “the woman who distracted Baba.” Sasha said the experience nearly made her give up her public career, though she later used it to speak out about cyberbullying and the treatment of women in public life.
Her Defense of Raila Odinga
Following Raila Odinga’s death in October 2025, Sasha once again found herself in the public eye. In an emotional Facebook post, she referred to him as a “fallen HERO”, sharing that she had revisited the same Zanzibar spot where their 2017 photo was taken — this time to honor his memory.
She wrote that she wanted to “tell her story, not explain herself,” emphasizing that her connection to Odinga had been purely respectful and political, not romantic.
In a separate post, she accused sections of the Kenyan media of having been “paid to destroy reputations”, claiming that she was used as a “political bait” during a volatile time but held no grudge, noting that “it was the first time Kenya didn’t shed blood after elections.”
Odinga’s widow, Ida Odinga, meanwhile, spoke of her husband at his funeral as a “political engineer with a calm, reflective character”, dispelling years of speculation about his personal life.
Sasha Spice Afrika Today
Beyond the controversy, Sasha Spice Afrika has reinvented herself as a successful entrepreneur, philanthropist, and social media personality operating across Kenya and Tanzania.
- Founder of Sasha Spice Africa: A beauty and wellness brand that includes a spa in Zanzibar, known for using natural, organic ingredients.
- Founder of Maridadi Tours and Safaris: A tourism company that employs and trains young men in Tanzania’s travel industry, giving them sustainable livelihoods.
- Founder of Upendo Women’s Foundation: An NGO that fights period poverty by distributing sanitary pads to girls across Africa. By 2022, it had reached over 100,000 women.
- Philanthropy and Advocacy: She runs #TalkToSasha, a digital campaign promoting women’s empowerment, entrepreneurship, and mental health awareness.
Sasha was featured in Business Daily Africa for her cross-border business success, earning praise as one of the few Kenyan women to run a thriving enterprise in Tanzania.
Legacy of the 2017 Incident
The 2017 Zanzibar photo remains a cautionary tale about how social media can distort simple human encounters into national scandals. For Sasha Spice Afrika, it became both a curse and a catalyst — a moment that broke her reputation but ultimately built her resilience.
Today, she continues to defend her truth, standing as both a survivor of cyber harassment and a testament to personal reinvention in the face of public vilification.
“I forgave those who judged me,” she said in a recent post. “Because I learned that sometimes, your pain becomes your platform.”
