Kenya holds state funeral for opposition leader Odinga after chaos of mourning

Kenya holds a state funeral to honor the opposition leader Raita Odingaa day behind the security forces he killed several people After opening fire to disperse the crowd of mourners the stadium held a public viewing of his body.

Thousands of mourners gathered amid heavy security at the Nyayo National Stadium on Friday, pulling white canes and dancing in the main square, with some blowing whistles and brightly colored plastic horns.

President William Ruto attended the event, alongside heads of Parliament and the judiciary. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was among the most respected African officials.

Okhinga, 80, died of a suspected heart attack At a health clinic in southern India on Wednesday, it is causing a huge outpouring of grief across the country.

Known as “Baba” (father in Swahili), Odinga was opposed to THe is very important in politics in his generation in Kenya.

Although mostly known as an opposition party, Odinga became prime minister in 2008 and struck a political deal with former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018, and with Ruto the year before in an exchange job.

Although he never succeeded in winning the Presidency despite five attempts, he played a major role in restoring the country to democracy in the 1990s and is called the Main Force behind the widely popular Constitution.

Mourners who attended Friday’s ceremony paid tribute to Odinga’s efforts as an activist.

“Raita Odinga, the father of democracy in Kena, was a selfless leader who would risk everything – even his life – to do the work of Kean Abeka,” Jean Jery Abeka, told news media.

However, Odinga was becoming an opposition figure of late, said Al Jazeera’s Catherine SOI, who reported on his funeral.

There have been many antiigivernment protests in the past year and this past year, SOI said, with Odinga’s political party aligned with the government and many say he was a pesche”.

However, “now they say that even though there was anger, most of them say they want to remember him for the things he did in this country,” concluded the soi.

There were chaotic scenes on Thursday as his body was brought back to India and taken to a field on the outskirts of Nairobi to lie in state.

As large crowds entered the VIP gate at the same time, security forces opened fire, killing at least three people, said the prominent rights group Vocal Africa.

It said to X that it had confirmed that “three corpses from Kasarani (Sports Stadium) were found in the evening in the mortuary of the city.”

Police also said three people were killed, but Kenya News KTN and Citizen TV put the death toll at four, with dozens injured.

Odinga’s body will travel to western Kenya, his family’s home region, where large crowds are expected on Saturday, before a private burial service on Sunday.

His death leaves the leadership of a debatable vacuum, with no clear protector as Kenya heads for potentially dangerous elections in 2027.