The concluding public tribute in Kisumu, a city in western Kenya, follows days marked by injuries and fatalities.
In Kenya’s western city of Kisumu, a memorial gathering to honor the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga resulted in numerous injuries as large crowds assembled to pay their respects, according to local news outlets.
Despite the presence of military personnel, police forces, and aerial monitoring aimed at averting the violent disturbances that plagued earlier memorial events on Thursday and Friday, Saturday’s ceremony at Jomo Kenyatta International Stadium still saw many people hurt.
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Medical teams from the Kenya Red Cross attended to individuals who collapsed from exhaustion and distress, facilitating the evacuation of the injured amid surging crowds inside the stadium. Odinga’s remains were scheduled to be transported to his ancestral village in Bondo for burial on Sunday, attracting tens of thousands from the surrounding areas.
Heightened security measures were implemented following violent outbreaks that claimed at least five lives during earlier memorial events for the 80-year-old opposition leader and statesman, who passed away after collapsing during a morning walk in Kerala, India, on Wednesday.
Siaya County Governor James Orengo called for calm as preparations continued to move Odinga’s body to Bondo, located roughly 60 kilometers (about 40 miles) west of Kisumu, where the latest unrest had taken place.
“I earnestly appeal to the public and the community at large to uphold peace during this sensitive time,” Orengo told reporters.
The initial viewing on Thursday turned tragic when security forces discharged firearms and tear gas into crowds pushing toward the pavilion housing Odinga’s coffin, resulting in at least three fatalities at a Nairobi stadium.
The following day, panic erupted among mourners leaving Friday’s state funeral at a different venue in the capital, causing a stampede that killed two more people and left 163 others needing medical attention.
Throughout the mourning period, massive crowds have accompanied Odinga’s remains since their arrival on Thursday, with supporters walking nearly 30 kilometers (around 20 miles) from Nairobi’s airport to escort the body.
The state funeral on Friday attracted tens of thousands who sang, danced, and waved handkerchiefs in tribute to a leader affectionately known as “Baba,” meaning “father” in Swahili.
Prominent figures such as President William Ruto and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attended the ceremony, where Odinga’s family members urged for peaceful conduct.
His brother, Oburu Odinga, addressed the crowd: “Raila should not be subjected to tear gas in death; he endured enough of it during his life.”
Former U.S. President Barack Obama, whose father hailed from Kenya, paid tribute to Odinga on X, describing him as “a genuine advocate for democracy” who “withstood decades of hardship and sacrifice for the greater cause of freedom and self-rule in Kenya.”
Obama highlighted Odinga’s commitment to peaceful reconciliation without compromising his fundamental principles.
Although Odinga never attained the presidency despite five attempts over thirty years, his influence on Kenya’s democratic development surpassed many who held the office, prompting widespread mourning across Kenya and the African continent.
He was instrumental in reintroducing multiparty democracy in the 1990s and championed the adoption of the transformative 2010 constitution, which decentralized power from the executive branch.
