NAIROBI, Oct 15 (The African Portal) – Kenya’s President William Ruto has sent a delegation to India to bring home the body of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who died aged 80 while receiving medical care, officials have said.
Indian police told AFP that Mr Odinga collapsed while walking with his sister, daughter and personal doctor at an Ayurvedic clinic in the southern state of Kerala. He was taken to a nearby private hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Mr Odinga, widely known by his supporters as “Baba” (father), was a towering figure in Kenyan politics and one of the country’s most influential opposition leaders. He ran for president five times — most recently in 2022 — but never won.
President Ruto visited the Odinga family home in Nairobi on Wednesday, where mourners gathered in grief. In a televised address, he described Mr Odinga as “a father of Kenya’s democracy and a towering figure in our politics.”
Local media reported incidents of unrest in parts of Nairobi and Kisumu, a city in Mr Odinga’s western Kenya stronghold, as supporters mourned his death.
Mr Odinga served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013, following a power-sharing deal that ended post-election violence. He later became the African Union’s High Representative for Infrastructure Development.
