Inside conflicting accounts of Raila Odinga's death

The most direct disagreement concerns a deeply personal question: who was with Raila when he took his last breath?. [File, Standard]

One year after Raila Odinga’s death, a fresh account by his longtime bodyguard has reopened questions about the former Prime Minister’s final moments, exposing striking differences between what he says happened and accounts from members of the Odinga family told Kenyans in October last year.

The most direct disagreement concerns a deeply personal question: who was with Raila when he took his last breath?

During his father’s State funeral at Nyayo National Stadium on October 17, 2025, Winnie Odinga told mourners she had been beside him when he died.

“I was with him in India when he took his last breath. He died in my arms,” she said.

Nearly a year later, Maurice Ogeta, Raila’s longtime bodyguard, offered a different recollection. In a recent interview, he said he and Dr Olunya were around Raila during his final moments.

His account does not, by itself, establish that no other person was present, but it directly challenges the impression created by Winnie’s public recollection.

“By the time Baba died, Dr Olunya and myself were around,” Ogeta said. Ogeta also described the sounds Raila made as his condition deteriorated.

He recalled hearing a faint voice or sound from him before Raila stopped responding normally. “I heard him make an ‘ai’ sound twice,” Ogeta said, describing the moment before he asked whether Raila was experiencing pain in his back or legs.

The two accounts cannot both describe the same moment in the way they were presented. If Ogeta’s account is accurate, the question becomes when Winnie was with her father, when she arrived at the hospital and what she meant when she said he died in her arms.

Those details have not been conclusively reconciled in the accounts available publicly. The disagreement has renewed interest in the events of October 15, 2025, when Raila died in Kerala, India, aged 80.

Winnie Odinga and her siblings lay a wreath of flower on their fathers grave. [File, Standard]

But the latest revelations are not the only inconsistencies. Earlier statements by his sister, Ruth Odinga, and elder brother, Oburu Oginga, also differed in their descriptions of how the medical emergency began. Did Raila collapse or sit down to rest?

One of the clearest differences emerged just days after Raila’s death, when Ruth rejected descriptions of her brother collapsing during his morning walk.

Speaking in October 2025, Ruth said Raila had been in good spirits and was looking forward to returning to Kenya the following day. According to her, he had been staying at a resort with family members after receiving treatment.

“We were not even at the hospital; we were just at a resort where we were staying ahead of our return on Thursday,” she said.

She then described how the medical emergency began. “He was just okay, he was doing his normal walk, and we were supposed to come back tomorrow,” Ruth recalled.

Her account was particularly emphatic on whether Raila collapsed. “He didn’t collapse. He just said he was feeling a little tired and sat down. We thought it was just fatigue from the walk and then called for an ambulance,” she said.

Ogeta’s recent recollection presents a markedly different picture. He said Raila had set out for his normal exercise, intending to complete five rounds of a track measuring approximately 50 metres.

They were chatting and had completed the first lap without difficulty when Raila suddenly stopped during the second. Ogeta recalled hearing a faint sound before asking whether Raila was experiencing back or leg pain. Raila did not respond to the question in the usual way.

“I think he went only a quarter way, walking slowly, then he stopped. Remember, I was just a metre away,” he said. He added that Raila appeared dazed before his body gave way and he tried to support him.

The difference is difficult to overlook. Ruth said her brother did not collapse but sat down after complaining of tiredness. Ogeta describes a sudden deterioration in which Raila could no longer support himself and leaned against him.

The two may have described different stages of the emergency or recounted what they understood from different vantage points.

But Ruth’s categorical denial that Raila collapsed sits uneasily alongside Ogeta’s description of physically supporting him as his body gave way.

Oburu offered another version of the events in the days following the death. Oburu said Raila had been walking with Winnie when the incident occurred, placing his niece beside her father during the emergency.

“When it happened, they were walking together with Winnie. She saw everything,” Oburu said. “They rushed him to the ICU, but God had His own plans. Raila is gone,” he added.

Oburu’s recollection is important because it appears to support the family’s account of Winnie’s presence during the incident.

Yet Ogeta’s account places him immediately behind Raila, about a metre away, and says he tried to hold him when he stopped walking.

The two descriptions raise questions about the precise circumstances of the walk. Was Winnie walking alongside her father when he first became unwell? Was she present at the collapse but absent during the final resuscitation? Or was Oburu recounting what he had been told rather than describing something he witnessed himself? The public statements do not provide enough information to answer those questions conclusively.

The distinction between witnessing Raila Odinga’s collapse, hearing his final sounds and being present when he died may be crucial, but competing recollections have yet to establish a clear timeline.

Ruth’s account of the hospital aftermath adds another layer to the conflicting narratives. On October 18, 2025, she spoke in Bondo about the moment she said she switched off the machines supporting her brother.

Her statement suggested she was present during the final phase of the medical response. Ogeta’s latest account, however, places him and Dr Olunya near Raila when he died.

Ogeta recalled becoming suspicious when hospital staff prepared prayer items and candles while doctors continued trying to save the former Prime Minister. Realising the situation was grave, he wanted to inform Raila’s daughters himself.

Reconciling the accounts requires establishing when Ruth arrived, which machines she switched off, whether resuscitation had ended and when doctors formally declared Raila dead.

The medical account offers a firmer reference point. Raila was taken to Devamatha Hospital in Kerala after suffering a medical emergency during his morning walk.

Doctors reported that he arrived without a detectable pulse or blood pressure and attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and other emergency interventions.

Dr Sister Alphons, who participated in his treatment, said the team’s efforts failed. The hospital’s account confirms that resuscitation was attempted but does not establish which family members were present at particular moments or whether Raila sat down before losing control of his body while standing.

Ogeta has also challenged interpretations of a video circulated widely after Raila’s death. The footage showed him in a gown, with his bodyguard following behind.

“Whatever clip that was circulated that went viral or whatever it is, of him in a gown and I was behind, that was not the clip of India. That was the previous clip when we were in Dubai when he did his first surgery,” he said.

Raila’s death ended a decades-long political career and left a profound mark on Kenya. His first anniversary offers an opportunity to reflect on his legacy, but the conflicting accounts have renewed scrutiny of his final hours.