Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has alleged that “statecraft” and rigid government protocol effectively denied the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) the opportunity to properly mourn its founding leader, Raila Odinga.
Speaking on Spice FM, Sifuna recounted the moment he learned of Odinga’s death while attending a party activation in Kajiado.
“The day mzee died, we had a party activation in Kajiado... I am reading my messages and someone in Raila’s office told me that Amolo has left us,” he said, adding that the news “didn't make sense” as he had spoken to Odinga only a day earlier.
He said tensions emerged almost immediately at Mama Ida Odinga’s home in Karen, where party loyalists had gathered awaiting family spokesperson Oburu Odinga.
Edwin Sifuna: I was in a flight to Mumbai to go fetch the late Raila Odinga but I could not see any of his friends on the flight.I was so angry.
— SpiceFM (@SpiceFMKE) April 30, 2026
Hosts:@nduokoh & @dennisaseto
Producer:@EverlyneMungai#TheSituationRoom pic.twitter.com/f68ozUOAZL
According to Sifuna, the shift from private mourning to a State-led process felt abrupt and exclusionary.
“Then statecraft takes over, we are told we have to go to the Statehouse. I was so angry that we were doing that there.”
Sifuna’s main criticism focused on what he described as a lack of dignity and representation in the delegation that travelled to India to retrieve the body.
He alleged the initial list prepared by the State excluded ODM members and was made up largely of government officials he did not consider close to Odinga.
“They were like oooh, Sifuna bring your passport, you will go fetch your friend. I find myself in this flight and looking around, I don’t see enough of Raila’s friends. Even if Raila himself would pick the people who were coming to fetch him, it is not these characters bwana,” he said.
“I was so angry, we get to Mumbai and the indignity that I found my boss in at the air site there… it was very difficult,” Sifuna added.
The senator also took issue with the conduct of the State funeral at Nyayo Stadium, saying ODM’s identity was not acknowledged during the ceremony.
“We as the people of Nairobi and ODM never got a chance to mourn Raila. There was not a mention of his party at Nyayo stadium,” Sifuna said.
While he said he respected the military’s role in organising the funeral, he argued the formal structure stripped away the political identity of the former Prime Minister.
“I can’t really begrudge the military because when they take over, they have their own traditions,” he noted.
Raila Odinga died on October 15, 2025, following a cardiac arrest while receiving treatment in India.
His death sparked national mourning, with thousands of supporters gathering in Nairobi and disruptions at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as his body was received.
A dominant figure in Kenyan politics for more than five decades, Odinga was accorded a State funeral attended by several African heads of state, followed by a seven-day national mourning period.