Nairobi (Somalia Today) — Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, a dominant figure in the nation’s politics for decades, died Wednesday at age 80 after collapsing during a trip to India, officials said. His death leaves a political vacuum and an uncertain future for his vast movement.
Odinga, a five-time presidential candidate and former prime minister, was the perennial face of Kenya’s opposition. News of his death sent shockwaves across the country, where supporters gathered to mourn the man they affectionately called “Baba,” or “father” in Swahili.
His passing has thrown the country’s political landscape into turmoil ahead of elections scheduled for 2027.
Odinga’s legacy is complex: he was a celebrated democracy activist who spent nine years in prison fighting autocracy, yet he was also a central figure in several fiercely disputed elections that led to deadly violence.
He ran for president five times and lost, most recently in 2022. However, his ability to mobilize mass support, especially from his Luo ethnic base, made him an indispensable political force.
Sudden collapse
Indian police confirmed Odinga died after a medical emergency in the southern state of Kerala. He was at an Ayurvedic clinic with his sister, daughter, and a personal doctor.
“Odinga was walking… when he suddenly collapsed,” police additional superintendent Krishnan M told AFP. “He was rushed to a nearby private hospital, but was declared dead.”
A spokesman for the Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre said Odinga had experienced “breathing difficulties.” He said staff provided CPR at the scene before transferring him to a modern hospital where, despite repeated efforts, “doctors were unable to save him”.
Back in Kenya, President William Ruto visited the Odinga family home in Nairobi as hundreds of grieving supporters converged outside, many wailing openly.
“How are we going to survive without him? We are shaking,” Anima Ferrari, Odinga’s head of protocol, told AFP in tears.
AFP journalists witnessed looting breaking out in the Nairobi informal settlement of Kibera, an Odinga stronghold he represented in parliament for years. In his home region of Kisumu in western Kenya, mourners blocked roads to express their grief.
Political firebrand
Born on January 7, 1945, Raila Odinga was the son of Kenya’s first vice president, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. He spent his early political career as a left-wing firebrand, even naming his first son Fidel after the Cuban leader.
He was first jailed in 1982 after a coup attempt against then-President Daniel Arap Moi, whose government was notorious for jailing and torturing opponents. Odinga ultimately served a total of nine years in prison, including six in solitary confinement, a period he later said shaped his resolve.
“Detention is a good school. You learn to reflect and think,” Odinga told Reuters in a 2007 interview. “You also learn tolerance, to be forgiving.”
After his release, he was instrumental in the fight for multiparty democracy, achieved in 1991. He entered parliament the next year and ran for president for the first time in 1997. He lost again in 2007, 2013, 2017, and 2022, claiming he was cheated of victory in the last four contests.
The 2007 election dispute triggered the worst political violence in Kenya’s history, leading to the deaths of more than 1,100 people and displacing hundreds of thousands in brutal ethnic clashes.
Controversial alliances
Odinga’s long career was marked by a pattern of fierce opposition followed by surprising alliances with his rivals, earning him the Luo nickname “Agwambo” (“the mysterious one”). After losing to Moi in 1997, he joined his government four years later.
Following the 2007 bloodshed, he agreed to a power-sharing deal with his foe, President Mwai Kibaki. He served as prime minister in a government of national unity.
More recently, he reconciled with President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018 in a famous public pact dubbed “the Handshake”. After losing the 2022 election to William Ruto, he again led street protests before striking a new deal with the government in 2024, a move that effectively left Kenya without a formal opposition.
“The country loses one of its most influential political players,” political analyst Barrack Muluka told AFP. “He had a broad national appeal. None of this can be said of anyone else.”
Condolences poured in from across Africa and the world.
The head of the African Union (AU) commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, hailed Odinga as “a steadfast champion of democracy”. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi remembered him as a “towering statesman”.
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan described his death as a tragedy “not just for Kenya, but for all of us,” while Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed offered “sincere condolences”.
Odinga’s death unravels the country’s main opposition force and leaves the political alliance he forged with President Ruto “dead and buried,” according to Muluka. This sets Kenya on an uncertain path toward its next election cycle.
