Kenya’s veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, who was imprisoned while fighting one-party autocracy and ran five times unsuccessfully for the presidency, has died at the age of 80, sources close to him said on Wednesday.
A family source told Reuters he had died in India receiving medical treatment, while the hospital where he died in Kochi city said he suffered a cardiac arrest.
Odinga was for decades at the heart of Kenyan politics, striking alliances with former foes, serving as prime minister for a term, and inspiring lifelong loyalty from his base, particularly among fellow Luos in the west and in the capital Nairobi.
Odinga’s ability to work with rivals earned him the nickname “Agwambo” (“mysterious one”) in the Luo language.
On Wednesday, Kenya’s President William Ruto visited the Odinga family home in Nairobi’s wealthy Karen suburb.
Odinga’s supporters called him simply “Baba” (“father” in Swahili), refusing to leave his side even when he was accused of exploiting ethnic divisions for political gain or of sealing deals with opponents to access power.
As news of his death reached the streets, hundreds of supporters from the Nairobi slum of Kibera, many crying and waving twigs to ward off bad omens, made their way in a procession to Odinga’s home.
His legacy as a democracy activist over the years helped seal two of the country’s most important reforms: multiparty democracy in 1991 and a new constitution in 2010.
Odinga led protests after the disputed 2007 election that plunged Kenya into its most serious political violence since independence. About 1,300 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes in the battles.
The western Luo tribe targeted then-President Mwai Kibaki’s ethnic Kikuyu group, Kenya’s largest and most economically dominant tribe, in much of the fighting.
Violence also followed the 2017 vote.
In 2017, Odinga told Reuters: “Each community believes that they are not safe unless their man is at the top”.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
Odinga was the son of Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice-president under independence leader Jomo Kenyatta. The rivalry between the elder Kenyatta and Odinga continued with their sons.
Despite his family’s extensive business interests, Odinga spent his early years as a left-wing firebrand, naming his son Fidel in honour of the Cuban Communist leader Fidel Castro.
Odinga was first imprisoned in 1982 after a coup attempt against then-President Daniel arap Moi, whose government jailed, tortured and murdered opponents. He served a total of nine years in jail, six in solitary confinement.
Reuters
