Source: Africa Publicity
Former Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, was laid to rest at a burial service that took place in his hometown of Bondo.
Thousands of Kenyan mourners thronged the grounds of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology on Sunday, October 19, 2025, to bid farewell to the man they fondly called “Baba” or father in Swahili.
Following the funeral service, Odinga’s body was taken to his final resting place, the Nyamira Village of Bondo.
Kenya’s President, William Ruto, who attended the burial service alongside his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta and former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, described Nyamira village as “the cradle” of Odinga’s “political convictions, and the sanctuary of his enduring spirit.”
According to President Ruto, Odinga was “a son of the soil whose life was inextricably woven into the story of our Republic.”
President Ruto added that “The vast sea of Kenyans gathered in solemn unity reminds us that Baba’s journey was never his alone; it was the journey of a people striving for freedom, dignity, and the promise of a just and equitable nation.”
He said “His courage, his vision, and his unyielding faith in our collective destiny will forever illuminate the path of our nation”.
According to him, “His return to Bondo was not merely a homecoming; it was the embrace of a grateful Republic bidding farewell to one of its greatest sons, a patriot who devoted his life to the cause of justice, democracy, and the enduring unity of our beloved Kenya.”
Odinga died from a reported heart failure in India on Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at the age of 80.
The late Odinga was jailed several times in the early 1980s for his pro-democracy and multi-party crusade.
In 1982, he was jailed after being accused of being one of the masterminds behind a failed coup against then autocratic leader, Daniel Arap Moi. The coup was carried out by a group of soldiers. Odinga spent six years due to the coup.
