The Kenyatta-Odinga family condolences gathering unfolded Thursday in the serene lakeside village of Siaya County, where former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta led her kin to the Odinga homestead, offering heartfelt solace to widow Ida Odinga just two weeks after Raila Odinga’s sudden passing on October 15.
The visit, a poignant bridge between Kenya’s towering political lineages, drew quiet crowds under overcast skies, symbolising unity in grief for the Azimio la Umoja architect whose life wove through five decades of national drama.
Mama Ngina, 95 and a matriarch of quiet command, arrived mid-morning in a convoy of sleek SUVs, her simple kitenge wrap a nod to Luo traditions amid the thatched roofs and palm fronds.
Flanked by family members, their relationship rekindled after Uhuru Kenyatta, the ex-president whose 2022 handshake with Raila thawed old rivalries, and daughter Ngina, the group was ushered into the modest sitting room where Ida, 70 and steely in black, held court.
“Raila was family, beyond politics,” Mama Ngina murmured, her voice a whisper carried on the lake breeze, as captured by local stringers.
Hands clasped in a circle of elders, they shared memories of shared battles, from multiparty pushes in the 90s to recent pacts against graft.
Uhuru added a personal touch, gifting a framed photo from their 2018 alliance days, a gesture that left Ida dabbing tears with a handkerchief.
The timing amplified the symbolism. Raila’s death, from complications during a routine checkup in Nairobi, stunned a nation that viewed him as immortal, the “Tinga” who dodged bullets and ballots alike.
His funeral at Lee Funeral Home drew global dignitaries, but this Bondo stop felt intimate, a Luo custom of “condolences calls” that stitches wounds with visits.
Neighbours in colourful lesos lined the dirt path, murmuring blessings in Dholuo, while boda bodas ferried more from nearby markets.
“Kenyatta and Odinga family condolences in Bondo show leaders can heal together,” one villager, 62-year-old fisherman Okoth Omondi, told reporters over roadside mandazi.
It echoed the dynastic dance: Kenyattas as founding pillars, Odingas as reformist firebrands, now conjoined in mourning. Layering the legacy, a delegation from India’s Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Hospital in Kerala touched down Wednesday, the very doctors who tended Raila during a 2024 wellness retreat for his chronic back woes.
Led by Dr Ravi Shankar, a soft-spoken specialist in holistic nerve therapies, they laid marigold wreaths at his fresh gravesite overlooking Lake Victoria, the soil still turned from last week’s rites.
“Odinga embraced our ancient ways, blending them with African resilience,” Dr Shankar shared, incense wafting in the humid air.
Raila, ever the globalist, had praised the hospital’s Panchakarma detox, crediting it for renewed vigour in AU chair bids. Their tribute, complete with Vedic chants and a silk scarf draped on the headstone, showed his borderless reach, from Addis summits to Kerala’s spice trails.