Odinga’s family anxious to know what caused Fidel’s death, Oburu says

NAIROBI: The late Fidel Odinga's family regrets that the cause of his death remains unresolved.

However, during the funeral service at All Saints Cathedral, Oburu Oginga declared that God would avenge the family, if Fidel's death was caused by a human being.

"Fidel’s death remains a mystery to us.

The post-mortem results have not been able to unravel this mystery yet. If this death is natural so be it.

But if it is by a human hand, I want to tell the person who did it, you have hit us below the belt,” said Oburu, Thursday.

He continued, “It is not the family habit of the Odinga’s to revenge, God will revenge for us.”

Oburu said the fact that autopsy results were unable to establish the cause of death, is worrying.

Though the pathologists asked for more time to perform a laboratory analysis on the specimens collected, Oburu said they were anxious to know what happened.

The Government pathologist Dorothy Njeru (Lead Pathologist), Johansen Oduor (Chief Government Pathologist) and family pathologist Prof Emily Rogena agreed to undertake more tests and said the results would be out in six weeks' time.

Speaking at the service, President Uhuru Kenyatta reiterated the Government's commitment to ensuring that the cause of death is known.

The CID has said it is still investigating.

Oburu said Fidel was a bridge for the Odinga family, friends and relatives and therefore his death was a major setback.

“He would bring together our advisories. He never knew boundaries and this is a unique attribute we have lost,” he said.

He continued, “Fidel was passionate about relations. His funeral will notably be one of a kind only compared to that of the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who was his close friend and grandfather.”

Oburu noted that though he had not attained his late grandfather’s status in his short time on earth, he had cut his own niche and not by the virtue of being a former Prime Minister’s son.

“Fidel, in may ways and accounts, was his own man,” he added.