Former Kenya Prime Minister Raila Odinga died on Wednesday at a hospital in Kerala’s Ernakulam district where he had been undergoing treatment for his eyes, officials said. He was 80.
According to an official at the Sreedhariyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre in Koothattukulam, where the former PM had been undergoing treatment for the past six days, he collapsed suddenly while out for a morning walk within its premises on Wednesday morning.
“We rushed him to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead. Doctors said he succumbed to a cardiac arrest,” said Hari, the vice-chairman of the Sreedhariyam Eye Hospital.
“When he was brought into the hospital nearly a week ago, he was in a wheel-chair. But over the past few days, he had regained his health and was able to walk independently,” the official said.
Odinga, who was serving as the country’s opposition leader, was accompanied by his daughter and a personal doctor while undergoing treatment in Kerala. He has visited the same hospital in 2019 for his daughter’s eye condition. His daughter Rosemary Odinga, who was diagnosed with optic nerve damage, was able to regain her eyesight with the help of Ayurvedic treatment.
Odinga’s remains were shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Ernakulam where it would likely be embalmed. Further steps would be taken on the basis of directions from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Kenyan Embassy.
{{/usCountry}}Odinga’s remains were shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Ernakulam where it would likely be embalmed. Further steps would be taken on the basis of directions from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Kenyan Embassy.
{{/usCountry}}Odinga served as the Prime Minister of Kenya between 2008 and 2013. He was perennially the country’s opposition leader, running unsuccessfully for the presidency five times, most recently in 2022.
A member of the Luo tribe, he entered Parliament for the first time in 1992 and cast himself in further years as an anti-establishment firebrand despite belonging to one of Kenya’s top political dynasties.
(With inputs from AFP)