Former Kisumu Deputy Governor Ruth Odinga, the younger sister to the late former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga, has expressed deep heartbreak over what she termed as “hypocrisy and delayed love” from sections of Kenya’s youth.
Speaking emotionally during a family gathering in Bondo, Ruth revealed that her late brother died feeling rejected by the same generation that is now mourning him across the nation.
“The Gen Zs are the same people talking about the outpouring love when he is dead. How about when he was not dead and you wanted him to die?” Ruth lamented.
“He Died Thinking Gen Z Wanted Him Gone”
According to Ruth, Raila had in his final days noticed hostility and ridicule online—especially from the youth—who criticized him despite his long record of fighting for Kenya’s democracy and justice.
“He died only knowing that the Gen Zs preferred him dead. It is only us who are seeing this outpouring of love, but how about Baba? He would have loved to see it when he was alive,” she said tearfully.
She described Raila’s death as a loss that transcends politics, saying she felt the nation’s grief the very moment doctors switched off the machines at the hospital in India.
“When the machine was switched off, I knew Kenya had lost,” she added.
A Family in Mourning, a Nation in Reflection
Ruth was among the Odinga family members who had accompanied Raila to India for Ayurvedic treatment before his passing.
Her sentiments come amid massive public mourning and tributes from global leaders, Kenyan politicians, and citizens, following Raila Odinga’s death from a cardiac arrest on Wednesday, October 15.
The late ODM leader’s passing has triggered soul-searching among Kenyans, with many reflecting on his decades-long struggle for multi-party democracy, devolution, and social justice.
