Raila To Be Buried on Saturday As Per His Will of 72 Hours

Former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga will be laid to rest on Saturday, in accordance with his final wish to be buried within 72 hours of his death.

Sources close to the Odinga family have revealed that the late ODM leader, who passed away on Wednesday morning in India, left clear instructions in his Will that his burial should not be delayed. President William Ruto was reportedly informed of Raila’s wishes shortly after arriving at the Odinga family home in Karen to personally condole with Mama Ida Odinga and the family.

“Mzee put it in his Will that he should be interred within 72 hours; the President has been told to work around those timelines,” a family source confirmed.

According to the funeral programme, Raila’s body will arrive in the country on Thursday morning and be taken to Lee Funeral Home at 9:00 a.m.

From there, the casket will be moved to Parliament Buildings at 11:00 a.m., where Kenyans will have an opportunity to pay their final respects.

A national prayer service is scheduled for Friday at Nyayo Stadium, followed by the burial on Saturday at the family’s ancestral home in Kango Ka Jaramogi, Nyamira village, Bondo.

He will be laid to rest beside his father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, and his son Fidel Odinga.

A high-level funeral committee, co-chaired by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Siaya Senator Dr. Oburu Odinga, is expected to oversee the final arrangements.

The committee has already convened sittings in Nairobi, Kisumu, Opoda, and Karen to coordinate both the state and family plans.

President Ruto, who spent over two hours with the bereaved family, has declared seven days of national mourning, directing that flags be flown at half-mast across the country and in all Kenyan missions abroad.

The late opposition chief’s body will be flown home by a delegation led by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Mama Ida Odinga.

Others accompanying the remains include Jaoko Oburu, Kevin Opiyo Oginga, and Cabinet Secretaries Hassan Joho and Kipchumba Murkomen.

Raila, 80, collapsed during a morning jog in the southern Indian state of Kerala, where he had been undergoing Ayurvedic treatment.

He was in the company of his daughter Winnie Odinga, his sister, a personal doctor, and both Kenyan and Indian security officers at the time.

His death came just weeks after that of his longtime political ally and agemate, Dalmas Otieno, an event he was unable to attend due to his illness.

Despite speculation about his health, his family had assured Kenyans that he was recovering well and expected back soon.

Nairobi County Assembly Deputy Majority Whip Stazo Omungala, one of Raila’s close allies, said he had spoken to the ODM leader just hours before his death.

“I spoke to Baba last night, and he was very jovial. I was shocked this morning to hear that he is dead,” he said.

As the nation enters a period of mourning, preparations are underway to honor the man who shaped Kenya’s political history for over four decades — a statesman whose final wish was to rest swiftly among his ancestors in Bondo.