Former Azimio Press Secretary Dennis Onsarigo has paid a moving tribute to the late Rt. Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga, describing him as a man of unmatched resilience, humor, and humanity whose impact on Kenya will endure for generations.
In a heartfelt reflection titled “Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga Resilience and Legacy,” Onsarigo recalled some of his most personal moments working alongside the veteran opposition leader and statesman.
“One of the few times I was truly terrified for Baba’s health was when he contracted COVID-19,” Onsarigo wrote. “He called me from Nairobi Hospital and asked me to release the news to the public. Even then, he had the strength to crack a dark joke: ‘I’m told even our neighbor, President John Pombe Magufuli, is here. But I’m fine my vitals are fine, my oxygen levels are fine. Go tell the public.’”
Onsarigo, who managed Raila’s social media accounts at the time, recounted the tense weeks that followed days filled with uncertainty and fear.
“I would arrive at his home in Karen some days to find he had regressed back on oxygen, with no visitors allowed. Yet even in that state, he would call me over to have lunch with him, just to spend time together,” he said.
He described the pain of watching the veteran leader struggle through conversation, oxygen tubes interrupting his speech, yet maintaining his trademark humor and calm. “Somehow, he pulled through. He survived that scare,” Onsarigo noted.
Reflecting on Raila’s passing, Onsarigo said he now feels sadness more than fear, a testament to the lessons Baba left behind. “Back then, I was scared. Today, I am not fearful—just profoundly sad. Baba had prepared me in his own way for the inevitability of death. What intrigued him most was what lay beyond. ‘This is a conversation only the dead will have,’ he would say, then let out that infectious, slow-building laugh of his.”
Onsarigo describes Raila, fondly referred to as ‘Baba’ by Kenyans, as a fighter, one who for decades stood at the forefront of Kenya’s struggle for justice—imprisoned for years for challenging one-party dictatorship—yet he emerged unbowed and without bitterness.
“I have never known another man, another leader, with such pronounced grace combined with a calm, commanding presence. His mastery of the Kenyan landscape—its people, its history, its politics—was unmatched. I often joked that he had the memory of an elephant and the heart of a dolphin: a formidable intellect coupled with extraordinary empathy. For all his toughness, he had a tender heart. He never quite knew what to do when someone cried—especially if it was a woman—or even at the mere sight of blood. Those things utterly unsettled him; he would be at a loss, not because he was cold, but because he felt others’ pain so personally.”
He reminisces days when Raila would jot down a phone number on a scrap of paper and ask his personal aide to send money to that number. “If I asked who it was for, he’d simply say, ‘It’s a mother, a friend from the ’90s in Lamu.’ He never forgot his friends or those in need, no matter how much time had passed.”
The body of the late Raila Odinga arrived in Kenya today ahead of his burial on Sunday.
