Raila to be buried tomorrow at his Bondo home

Tomorrow, Sunday 19, 2025, the remains of the former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga, one of Kenya’s most influential and polarising political figures whose career spanned over four decades of democratic struggle will be interred at his Opoda Farm in Bondo, Kisumu county.

Raila, who died aged 80 years while undergoing treatment in India on Thursday, October 15, 2025 will be laid to rest next to his mother Mary Juma as per his wishes. The mother died on November 5, 1984, while Raila was being detained at Shimo la Tewa Prison and he never got a chance to pay his last respects.

President William Ruto directed Raila be accorded a state funeral, honoring his immense contribution to the country’s political and democratic journey.

The president also a seven-day mourning period with flags flying half-mast.

“Our former Prime Minister Raila Amollo Odinga shall be accorded a state funeral with all attendant honors,” President Ruto declared in a solemn address to the nation.

The announcement comes just hours after confirmation of Raila’s passing in Kochi, India, where he had been receiving treatment.

His death has sent shockwaves across the country and the continent, with tributes pouring in from leaders, citizens, and international partners.

To oversee the funeral arrangements, President Ruto revealed the formation of a high-level committee co-chaired by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki and Siaya Senator Oburu Odinga, Raila’s elder brother.

Born on January 7, 1945, in Maseno, Kisumu County, Raila was the son of Kenya’s first Vice President, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a towering figure in the country’s independence history.

From an early age, he was immersed in politics, inheriting both the charisma and defiance that would define his life’s journey.

Educated in East Germany, Odinga trained as a mechanical engineer before joining the Kenya Bureau of Standards.

But politics beckoned early. In the 1980s, his name became synonymous with the struggle against the repressive one-party regime of Kenya’s second president, the late Daniel arap Moi.

He was detained without trial for nearly a decade, accused of involvement in the failed 1982 coup attempt. His imprisonment turned him into a symbol of resistance, a freedom fighter to his supporters, a subversive agitator to his critics.

When Kenya embraced multiparty democracy in the 1990s, Odinga emerged as a formidable force.

He served as Member of Parliament for Lang’ata, cabinet minister, and later Prime Minister in the 2008–2013 Grand Coalition Government formed to end the post-election violence that followed the disputed 2007 polls in which Kenya’s third president the late President Mwai Kibaki trounced his rivals for his second and final term.

Throughout his political life, Odinga ran for president five times, 1997, 2007, 2013, 2017, and 2022, coming agonisingly close but never winning the top seat and has been the constant face of opposition who later managed to brokered coalitions with serving administrations preceded with sporadic civil anarchy, rebellion against government and mass street protests.

Odinga formed alliance with Moi, Kibaki, the fourth Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta and lately with President William Ruto under the Broad-Based-Government (BBG) following the June 2024 youth-led insurrection that culminated in Parliament invasion resulting to mass killings by police.

On each election he lost stirred controversy, protest, and deep national reflection about Kenya’s democracy. His relentless pursuit of electoral justice earned him both admiration and fatigue from a country he helped shape and shake in equal measure.

Beyond his electoral battles, Odinga was a key architect of Kenya’s 2010 Constitution, which entrenched devolution and expanded civil liberties. His 2018 “handshake” with then-President Uhuru Kenyatta marked a rare moment of political reconciliation, though it divided his supporters and realigned Kenya’s political landscape ahead of the 2022 elections.

To millions, “Baba,” as he was fondly called, was the conscience of the opposition a fearless voice against corruption, impunity, and tribal politics. To others, he was a political enigma — unpredictable, ambitious, and at times too pragmatic for his revolutionary ideals.

Despite never attaining the presidency, Raila Odinga’s imprint on Kenya’s political evolution is indelible. He helped nurture a culture of dissent, defended constitutionalism, and kept alive the dream of a just and equitable society.

Raila Odinga is survived by his wife Ida Odinga, four children, and grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are expected to be announced after consultations between the family and the State.