Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga dies at 80

Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has died at the age of 80, a source in his office told Reuters on Wednesday, October 15. No further details were immediately provided.

Earlier, Indian newspaper Mathrubhumi reported that Odinga, who was receiving medical treatment in Kochi, India, suffered a cardiac arrest on Wednesday and was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Odinga, a towering figure in Kenyan politics for decades, contested the presidency five times but was never elected. Two of those elections triggered violent unrest, leaving deep scars on the nation’s political history.

As a democracy activist, he played a key role in shaping Kenya’s modern political landscape, championing multiparty democracy in 1991 and supporting the adoption of a new constitution in 2010.

Odinga also led mass protests following the disputed 2007 presidential election, which plunged the country into one of its darkest periods of political violence, leaving about 1,300 people dead and displacing hundreds of thousands more.