Kenya’s revered opposition leader Raila Odinga laid to rest

Kenyans have bid a final farewell to esteemed opposition leader Raila Odinga, days after several people were killed as mourners gathered to pay their respects in the capital Nairobi.

Odinga, a pro-democracy champion who also served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013, was buried on Sunday at his family’s homestead in western Kenya’s Bondo.
The Anglican service and burial took place without major incident after an outpouring of national grief this week, in which at least five people were killed and hundreds injured when surging crowds eager for a glimpse of his body overwhelmed authorities.

“Now finally Baba is home,” said his son and namesake, Raila junior, using the Swahili word for father. The casket, draped in the Kenyan flag, stood under a marquee. Military officers saluted as the coffin was lowered into the ground and trumpets played the Last Post.

The private burial followed a funeral mass earlier in the day at a nearby university.

Thousands of Kenyans and dignitaries from across Africa attended the final interment of a man described as a “selfless pan-Africanist”.

Among those in attendance were Kenya’s President William Ruto, who gave remarks describing Odinga as a “unifier”, Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo.