Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Saturday returns to the land of his birth and childhood, to a region where time seems to have stood still since his passing in India on Wednesday.
In Kisumu and Bondo, many are still coming to terms with the death of a man they revered like none before. Businesses stayed shut yesterday as residents gathered to follow Raila's state funeral live on screens mounted at different viewing spots.
In Bondo, it was a hive of activity as workers raced against time to put everything in order at his Opoda home, the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) grounds, and Kang'o Ka Jaramogi in Siaya.
By Friday morning, activity was intense at Opoda, where workers were setting up tents and arranging seats for the thousands of mourners expected to attend.
Security personnel and protocol officers from both the national and county governments were also on-site, coordinating logistics for the high-profile funeral.
Initially, Raila was to be buried next to his mother's grave in Kang'o Ka Jaramogi, a short distance from Opoda; however, the burial committee announced that the site had been moved to a spot next to the mausoleum of his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
The change, according to family sources, was meant to honour the close bond between father and son and to preserve the family’s legacy within the same resting place.
Earlier, Bondo MP Dr Gideon Ochanda and Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi visited the home, where they appealed for peace and calm during Mr Odinga’s funeral. The leaders urged mourners and political supporters to focus on celebrating Raila’s life and his contribution to the country, rather than engaging in confrontation.
At the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University grounds, workers were putting finishing touches on the main funeral venue where a national service will be held before the cortege proceeds to Kan'go for interment.
Tents, sound systems, and large screens were being installed, with county teams working late into the night to ensure everything is in place.
At Kan'go, workers worked around the clock at the new gravesite, which will be the final resting place of one of Kenya’s most influential political figures.
In Opoda, mourners continued to flock throughout the day, some singing traditional Luo dirges, others waving orange flags in tribute to the man who led the ODM party for over two decades.
Emotional scenes unfolded as mourners recounted Raila’s lifelong fight for democracy, multi-partyism, and devolution.
Security has been tightened across Bondo and its environs, with roadblocks erected and aerial surveillance expected during the burial.
Local hotels are fully booked and traders have flooded the town, selling food, drinks and memorabilia bearing Raila’s portrait and popular slogans such as Agwambo and Jakom, among others.
At the Kondele roundabout in Kenya's third-largest city, a disco matanga, a vigil of sorts, has endured since Wednesday night. Songs praising Raila were blasted on speakers throughout Thursday night. There was dancing until the break of dawn.
Raila's body is expected to land in Kisumu at 9 am, with a public viewing scheduled at the Jomo Kenyatta Stadium before proceeding to Bondo by road, where his body will spend the night at his house. The city's residents are ready to receive him well. “Better than Nairobi did,” said Collins Oloo, a boda boda rider.
But he was concerned that mourners could face harm, like those in Nairobi did at the Kasarani Stadium where they gathered to view Raila's body, resulting in deaths.
"I must escort him to Bondo," he said. "How much expensive can the fuel there be? Not more than my love for Raila."
In Bondo, Raila's hometown, the disbelief stands out. It is evident in the quizzy faces of the crowds of mourners camped outside Raila's Opoda farm, where he built his adult homestead, as is customary for a Luo man with children.
A condolence book in a pop-up tent at the front of his house was filling up fast with messages of shock and well wishes for the departed Raila.
Elders from Bondo have been trooping to his home with bulls “that have consumed leaves (marijuana),” as one of the elders told us.
“The rite symbolises that we have responded to a grieving family in distress,” Mary Nyona, one of the elders, said in Dholuo. “It is different from tero buru, when we will eat the heads of all cows and goats slaughtered for this funeral.”
Processions of boda boda riders and lorries ferrying mourners bearing branches and wailing their lungs out zoomed past Raila's home, a salute to the son who made them the proudest.
An emcee led them in singing dirges, repeating frequently one that was synonymous with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and which Raila took up to mourn friends.
“Ee wuoyi gi ma ichamo e mari (Young man, the only thing that is yours is that which you have eaten),” he began, “Gi ma odong' to kik igen (Don't count on whatever is left).”
There are mourners at Raila's boyhood home, at the Kang'o Ka Jaramogi, his late father's homestead, too. Having seen Raila's grave dug, next to Jaramogi, this bunch is learning to believe the dreadful news is true.
“Kara en adiera ni Baba yamo okawo (So it is true that Baba has gone with the wind),” Nyakinye Ooko, wielding a spear he repeatedly pierced into the air, symbolically stabbing the spirits of death that robbed them of a hero, recited a dirge. “Kara en adiera ni Baba onindo e bade (So it is true that Baba has died).”
Some five kilometres away at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, mega tents that will house 18,000 mourners were being set up, with space set aside for 2,000 more who will not enjoy the shade. Others will follow the proceedings on screens mounted at a spill-over zone.
Grace Owenga, who also introduced herself as Nyar Maralal, her hometown, said she had travelled from Usenge to Bondo, some 27 kilometres apart, because she had to see off the community's hero.
Meanwhile, Interior Principal Secretary, Governor Anyang' Nyong'o, and a host of security officials inspected the Jomo Kenyatta Stadium, where the public viewing of the body of the former Prime Minister is expected to take place.
Reports by Brian Otieno, Isaiah Gwengi and Clinton Ambujo
