Raila Odinga, Kenya’s veteran opposition firebrand, dies aged 80

Raila Odinga, Kenya’s former prime minister, veteran opposition firebrand, and one of the best-known African politicians of his generation, has died aged 80.

Odinga, who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency five times as a would-be champion of the downtrodden, most recently in 2022, died of a heart attack on Wednesday morning while undergoing medical treatment in India.

There is strong evidence he would have won the 2007 election were it not for vote rigging, an electoral injustice that led to widespread violence in which more than 1,000 people died.

As news of Odinga’s death emerged on Wednesday, thousands of people came out in the streets in the western city of Kisumu, where Odinga’s Luo community is concentrated.  

“Millions of hearts have been broken, mourning the passing of a leader who was never allowed to be president,” said Salim Lone, one of the politician’s most loyal aides during a tumultuous career in which Odinga became a central figure in the fight for more democratic rule.

Odinga, who hailed from the west of Kenya, commanded a huge and loyal following including in the capital Nairobi and its vast, sprawling slum Kibera.

His ability to bring his followers on to the streets gave him unrivalled leverage over the political establishment and power as a dealmaker during years in which his movement was in and out of government, including between 2008 and 2012 when he served as prime minister.

“While our presidents curtailed freedoms and rights to entrench their power and wealth, Raila’s vast popular following allowed him, without ever holding power, to enlarge democracy and inclusion for the struggling masses,” Lone said.

Odinga’s death comes at a pivotal moment in Kenya’s history, as a new tech-savvy generation wrestles to overturn the culture of elite political horse-trading that Odinga eventually came to epitomise.

His star began to fade as early as 2017 when disputed elections were annulled by Kenya’s supreme court but Odinga declined to take part in the subsequent run-off. The resulting election of Uhuru Kenyatta was followed by a notorious “handshake” with Odinga that underscored the back-room workings of elite politics.

More recently, his age had begun to show and some followers became further disillusioned following his decision in 2024 to come to the rescue of current President William Ruto after Gen Z protesters opposing tax rises threatened to overrun parliament.

By joining Ruto’s coalition he has helped keep the government together since.

Ruto declared a period of national mourning ahead of the internment and said Odinga would be accorded a state funeral with military honours.

“Hon Raila Odinga’s name is etched indelibly in the annals of our republic’s journey towards greater freedom, democracy and prosperity . . . in his passing, our nation, our continent, and our world have lost a titan of conscience,” Ruto said.

The younger generation now demanding social justice and more accountable rule also recognised on Wednesday the huge role that Odinga had played in opening up the political space in Kenya since the 1980s, when he stood up to the authoritarian regime of Daniel arap Moi.  

Kenya would look much more like Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda or Tanzania, four east African countries where political freedom remains more tightly controlled, were it not for him, they said.

“He fought, he failed, he rose, he fell. But through it all, he made us talk about justice, fairness, and Kenya itself,” said Sholla Ard, a Kenyan political commentator. “Now that he’s gone, who among our leaders truly fights for us, and who only fights for position?”

In apparent answer to that question, Boniface Mwangi, a human-rights activist who plans to contest presidential elections in 2027, forecast a looming political realignment in the wake of Odinga’s death.

“His watch is over. What gives me hope is that last year a generation that will liberate Kenya from the shackles of bad leadership and corruption was born,” Mwangi said.

Raila Odinga was born in 1945, the son of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, independent Kenya’s first vice-president, who later as an opposition leader coined the phrase “Not Yet Uhuru”, meaning “not yet free”, in reference to the homegrown political repression that succeeded British colonial rule.

He leaves behind his wife, Ida Odinga, and four children.

Additional reporting by David Pilling in London