By Dorothy Musyoka
Former Prime Minister and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga has passed away at the age of 80.
According to The Associated Press Odinga died of a heart attack in India’s Kerala State.
According to the reports, an Indian police official told the AFP news agency that Odinga had been on a morning walk, accompanied by his sister, daughter, a personal doctor, and Indian and Kenyan security officers, when he collapsed.
“His death was confirmed by Devamatha Hospital in Kerala State, where he was taken after he collapsed during a morning walk,” stated The Associated Press.
Born on January 7, 1945, in Maseno, Kisumu County, Raila Odinga was the son of Kenya’s first Vice President, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
A fearless reformist, Raila was at the forefront of the struggle for multiparty democracy in the 1980s and 1990s, enduring detention, persecution, and political exile.
Raila served as Prime Minister between 2008 and 2013 under the Grand Coalition Government following the disputed 2007 presidential election.
Odinga has unsuccessfully run for the presidency several times, including in 2017 and in 2022, both of which he alleged electoral fraud.
As Premier, he championed for social justice and he will be remembered for his patriotic journey as a consequential figure in the second Liberation of the country and the historic 2010 Constitution.
Throughout his political career, Raila Odinga remained a symbol of resilience and reform.
His leadership of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) cemented his role as the face of opposition politics and democratic accountability.
In recent years, Raila had taken up the mantle of African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development, championing connectivity and economic integration across Africa.
His death comes barely a week after Odinga’s secretariat dismissed widespread media speculations about his health condition.