The Buganda Kingdom has mourned the death of former Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga, who passed away earlier today in Kochi, India, after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga expressed deep sorrow at the news, highlighting the longstanding relationship between the Odinga family and Buganda’s Royal Family, dating back to the era of Ssekabaka Edward Muteesa II.
“The news of the death of Raila Odinga has been received with sadness,” Mayiga said.
“He played a key role in Kenya’s political transformation and constitutional development. I extend my condolences to his family, friends, the people of Kenya, and all East Africans. May the Lord receive his soul.”
Odinga, a veteran opposition leader, contested five presidential elections without success. His decades-long activism helped usher in multiparty democracy in 1991 and Kenya’s new constitution in 2010.
Following the disputed 2007 election, he led protests that triggered Kenya’s worst political violence since independence, leaving over 1,300 dead and displacing hundreds of thousands.
