NAIROBI, Kenya — Former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has announced he will cut short his official engagements in the United Kingdom following the death of his longtime political partner Raila Odinga, whom he described as “the President who won but was never declared and sworn into office” in a moving tribute that chronicled one of Kenya’s most consequential political partnerships.
Musyoka, who served as Kenya’s tenth Vice President, said he received the “devastating news” upon arriving at Heathrow International Airport for a scheduled 10-day visit.
In a statement released Wednesday, the Wiper Democratic Movement leader reflected on his complex 12-year political journey with Odinga that spanned opposition alliances and government service.
The tribute provided a raw account of Odinga’s democratic struggle, noting he was “the longest suffering political detainee in Kenya” whose “body bore the scars of the slings and arrows, bullets and batons, that no man or woman should ever endure.”
“At each point of release from the detention cells and torture chambers,” Musyoka recounted, “he would raise his arms up to the heavens, his fist clenched in determination; resolved that the tears and painful scars he personally suffered would yield to democracy and freedom for his beloved Kenya.”
This characterization of Odinga as the “Champion of the Second Political Liberation” aligns with historical documentation from sources including Amnesty International and Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, which detailed the systematic persecution of pro-democracy activists during the single-party era.
Musyoka also highlighted what he termed Odinga’s “Agwambo” persona—a reference to his political mystique and strategic unpredictability—and his crucial role in Kenya’s constitutional reform process, particularly the devolution of “power from an imperial presidency to a people’s people-centred constitutional order.”
The tribute offered unique insight into one of Kenya’s most enduring political partnerships, with Musyoka noting his “singular privilege of working very closely and passionately with my brother, twice as his running mate both in CORD and NASA, as well as his partner in the Azimio La Umoja – One Kenya Coalition.”
“We learnt a lot from each other, and shared a lot of pain together,” Musyoka stated, alluding to their consecutive presidential election losses in 2013, 2017, and 2022—contests whose outcomes they disputed, particularly the 2017 election whose results were annulled by the Supreme Court before a fresh poll was boycotted by the opposition.
Musyoka extended his solidarity to Odinga’s wife, Ida, and children Rosemary, Raila Junior, and Winnie, acknowledging the family’s sacrifice. “I know that all Kenyans are praying for you,” he stated.
The former Vice President framed Odinga’s passing as a loss not just to Kenya but to the entire continent, recognizing his Pan-African stature—a view corroborated by initial condolence messages from across Africa, including from South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Musyoka’s announcement that he was “rearranging my schedule of engagements in the United Kingdom in honour of my fallen brother” underscores the personal dimension of their political relationship, one that survived multiple election cycles and evolving political realities.
As Kenya mourns, this tribute from his longest-serving political running mate adds a deeply personal chapter to the legacy of a man who, in Musyoka’s words, remained “a force of nature” in Kenyan politics until his final breath.
