Maurice Ogeta, Raila’s Bodyguard: The Shadow Who Became The Story

In the annals of Kenya’s political history, there exists a peculiar breed of men who live in perpetual alertness, whose eyes scan crowds for threats while the rest of us see only faces.

These men walk when others run, stand when others sit, and remain vigilant when others sleep.

Maurice Ogeta, the personal bodyguard to the late Raila Odinga, was one such man, and now, in death, his boss has released him from his most sacred duty, though not from his grief.

When Raila Odinga’s body lay in state at Parliament Buildings on Friday, October 17, 2025, it was Ogeta’s tears that captured the nation’s attention almost as much as the casket itself.

Here was a man trained to suppress emotion, schooled in the art of stoicism, crumbling under the weight of a loss that transcended the professional relationship most assumed defined their bond.

The late Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his bodyguard Maurice Ogeta.PHOTO/@RailaOdinga/X

Dressed in a dark blue suit and wearing sunglasses that could not hide his trembling lips, Ogeta appeared visibly shaken as he entered the hall, his steps unsteady, his composure shattered .

In a tribute released before the public viewing, Ogeta had written that his commitment over years of service had blossomed into both a comradeship of trust and a near father and son relationship. Those were not the carefully crafted words of a political operative seeking attention. They were the raw confession of a man who had discovered, somewhere between protecting a life and sharing it, that duty had transformed into devotion, and the principal had become something closer to kin.

Maurice Ogeta hails from Kondele, a densely populated neighborhood in Kisumu County, with his family residing in Komolo, Uyoma.

He is a man who has deliberately kept the private details of his life away from public scrutiny, understanding perhaps better than most that in the shadows lies safety.

Yet those shadows were pierced violently in July 2023, when the very profession that defined him turned against him.

During a politically charged period in 2023, Ogeta was abducted by unknown men believed to be police officers.

For days, he vanished.

When finally released, he was found blindfolded and visibly shaken.

He spent three days in solitary confinement, subjected to relentless questioning about Raila’s whereabouts and protest plans, his captors repeatedly asking about the demonstration routes and itineraries.

The interrogation was rough, physically turning him around, questioning whether he was a police officer himself, though he maintained throughout that Raila was unwell and he did not have the itinerary.

What would drive a man back to a post that had nearly cost him his life? Duty alone does not explain it. Money certainly does not suffice as justification.

Despite the trauma, Ogeta never wavered.

He returned to his post, standing beside Raila through rallies, negotiations and moments of national tension.

There exists a loyalty in this world that cannot be purchased or commanded. It can only be earned through years of mutual trust, through moments when words are unnecessary because understanding runs deeper than language.

Ogeta’s career spans over two decades of elite military and security training across the globe, with reports indicating he received professional instruction in Afghanistan and France for two years each, focusing on advanced protection, intelligence gathering and tactical response.

He reportedly trained with Israel’s special forces for fifteen years and Russian forces for ten years, gaining expertise in counter surveillance, rapid combat reaction and high level personal protection, with skills including marksmanship, quick response and weapon detection.

He is said to be multilingual, reportedly fluent in more than fifteen international languages including German, Russian, Arabic and Chinese .

Yet all that training, all those languages, all that expertise in detecting threats and neutralizing danger, proved useless on the morning of October 15, 2025. Ogeta was among the close associates present moments before Raila collapsed during a morning walk in India.

Trained in emergency response, Ogeta attempted to administer CPR on the politician, but the efforts proved futile.

There are enemies a bodyguard can see coming, threats that can be intercepted, bullets that can be blocked with one’s own body if necessary. But cardiac arrest respects no security detail, acknowledges no perimeter, and breaks through every defense.

The tarmac at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport fell silent as the aircraft bearing Raila’s body touched down on October 16, with emotional photos capturing Ogeta breaking down in tears as the casket was offloaded from the Kenya Airways plane.

Viral footage showed Ogeta in tears as Raila’s remains were loaded onto the plane, and upon arrival, photos captured him weeping as the casket was offloaded.

The man who had walked in shadows now stood fully exposed in his humanity, his grief raw and unfiltered.

At Parliament Buildings, the full measure of that grief became undeniable. President William Ruto, leading senior government officials in paying final respects, stepped forward to console Ogeta, embracing him and holding his hands while offering comforting words.

Maurice Ogeta (far right in blue) seen escorting the coffin bearing the remains of the late Prime Minister Raila Odinga. during State Funeral at Nyayo Stadium.

Narok Senator Ledama Olekina stood nearby, gently guiding Ogeta aside as grief overwhelmed him, remaining by his side and offering comfort as mourners looked on in silence  . It was a moment that transcended politics, that reminded a divided nation of the common denominator of loss, of the universal language of sorrow.

Kenyans on social media noted that as a bodyguard entrusted with protecting his boss’s life, Ogeta likely felt he had lost it since he was unable to secure his boss at the last minute, with many recognizing that those who walk through such experiences often beat themselves with blames and regrets . The what ifs, the flashbacks, the feeling of having failed someone you were sworn to protect. These are burdens that training manuals do not address, weights that no amount of physical conditioning can prepare one to carry.

A video emerged showing Ogeta delivering what was reportedly Raila’s farewell suit to Lee Funeral Home after arriving from India, reportedly arriving early while Raila’s body was still at JKIA.

Even in death, he was attending to the details, ensuring his principal would be presented with dignity.

This is what loyalty looks like when stripped of pretense.

It is delivering a suit to a funeral home. It is standing guard over a coffin instead of a living man. It is weeping not for cameras but because the heart cannot contain what the mind refuses to accept.

Ogeta and Raila’s relationship began through their mutual involvement in sports and fitness activities, with Ogeta noting that Raila was a sportsperson who liked fitness and that they met, bonded, and the relationship developed from there.

Sometimes the most profound connections begin with the simplest commonalities. Two men who valued physical discipline, who understood the importance of routine, who shared early morning hours when the world was still quiet.

From those foundations, trust was built brick by brick, year by year, until the line between employer and employee blurred into something far more human.

Now Ogeta stands at a crossroads that no training prepared him for. The man he protected is beyond protection.

The routine that gave structure to his days has been shattered. The voice that gave orders has fallen silent.

In Raila’s final days in India, Ogeta was among the few who remained close, a silent witness to the last chapter of a storied life.

He was there at the beginning of the end, and he will be there at the burial, standing guard one final time.

Kenya has lost a political titan, a man who shaped the nation’s democratic journey for decades. But Maurice Ogeta has lost something more personal, something harder to quantify or memorialize.

He has lost the man who transformed his job into a calling, who taught him that loyalty is not just about standing between a principal and danger, but about standing beside someone through every season of their life.

In protecting Raila Odinga with his life, Maurice Ogeta discovered that protection, in its truest form, is simply another word for love.