The family of the deceased Raila Odinga has announced the ex-Prime Minister will be laid to rest on Sunday in a private funeral, closing off a week of the national mourning of one of Kenya’s most celebrated political figures.
Yesterday, speaking to the mourners who had gathered at the Odinga homestead in Bondo, Siaya County, Raila’s elder brother Dr. Oburu Oginga confirmed that the final prayers will be witnessed by only a small group of people close to him and special individuals.
“We will give Raila a dignified farewell, the type offered to a respectable son of this country,” Dr. Oburu, who is also Siaya Senator and co-chairman of the State Funeral Committee, said.
Before the private burial, the state ceremony will be held at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) on Sunday, which is a stone’s throw from the family home.
Dr. Oginga explained that the family had remained hopeful that Raila would survive in the days leading up to his death, but fate had other plans.
Raila will be buried alongside his parents, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Mary Juma Odinga, at the family home.
A Final Journey Across the Nation
On Saturday, a State funeral ceremony will be held in Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi, where there will be national and foreign dignitaries that will turn out to honor a man who dominated Kenya’s political history for more than four decades.
Later, Raila’s body will be taken to his Karen home for a night vigil.
On Saturday morning, the funeral procession to his final resting place begins. The body will be air-freighted to Kisumu, where the public will be given an opportunity to view it at Jomo Kenyatta Stadium in Mamboleo. It will then go by road to Bondo and will be there in the evening for a second overnight stay.
Raila Odinga, affectionately known by many as Baba, was more than a politician. To millions, he was a symbol of resistance, democracy, and unbreakable determination to reform. His passing earlier this week triggered waves of grief across the nation and the globe at large, with Kenyans of all walks of life commemorating his legacy.
His final burial on Sunday shall be in line with Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) rituals, in keeping with his faith, as sanctioned by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, the second co-chair of the funeral committee.
As sun sets on Sunday over the familiar Bondo horizon, Raila will finally rest in the land of his fathers in peace, in modesty, and in the fold of family love.
