Kenyans have bid a final farewell to esteemed opposition leader Raila Odinga, after several days of mourners paying their respects in the capital Nairobi and other gazetted places. Odinga, a pro-democracy champion who also served as Prime Minister from 2008 to 2013, was buried on Sunday at his family’s homestead in western Kenya’s Bondo.
The Anglican service and burial took place without major incident after an outpouring of national grief, in which at least five people were killed and hundreds injured when surging crowds eager for a glimpse of his body overwhelmed authorities.
“Now finally Baba is home,” said his son and namesake, Raila junior. The casket, draped in the Kenyan flag, stood under a marquee. Military officers saluted as the coffin was lowered into the ground and trumpets played the Last Post. The private burial followed a funeral mass earlier in the day at a nearby university.
Thousands of Kenyans and dignitaries from across Africa attended the final interment of a man described as a “selfless pan-Africanist”. Among those in attendance were Kenya’s President William Ruto, who gave remarks describing Odinga as a “unifier”, Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“Raila was not just a Kenyan dignitary and loved by Kenyans; he was also very respected across the continent and even beyond,” said Al Jazeera’s correspondent Catherine Soi from the ceremony in Bondo.“People here want to honour him for all the sacrifices he made in this country.”
Odinga, 80, died from a suspected heart attack at a health clinic in southern India on Wednesday. His body was received by thousands of mourners in Nairobi on Thursday.
Four public viewing events have been held in the past three days, attracting thousands of mourners and leaving five people dead and hundreds injured during stampedes. Al Jazeera’s Soi reported that there was also “a bit of a fracas” leading up to Sunday’s burial as “people tried to surge” towards the site, though security personnel “quickly contained” the crowd.
Affectionately known as “Baba”, Odinga was arguably the most important political figure of his generation in Kenya.
Though mainly known as an opposition figure, he became prime minister in 2008 and also struck a political pact with former president Kenyatta in 2018, and with President Ruto last year in a career of shifting alliances.
Although he never succeeded in winning the presidency despite five attempts, he played a central role in returning the country to multi-party democracy in the 1990s and is credited as the main force behind a widely praised constitution passed in 2010.
Ruto said on Friday that Odinga helped him “steady the country” after a political pact signed in March this year, following months of anti-government protests that saw young Kenyans storm and burn some Parliament of Kenya buildings.
Former African Union Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha said Odinga’s influence was continental. “I see him as one of those who fought for the second liberation,” he said, adding that some African countries are still struggling for democracy.
Odinga’s death leaves a leadership vacuum in the opposition, with no obvious successor as Kenya heads into a potentially volatile election in 2027.