NEW DELHI, India
Raila Odinga, former Prime Minister of Kenya, died at an Ayurvedic eye hospital-cum-research centre at Koothattukulam in Ernakulam district of Kerala on Wednesday (October 15, 2025). He was 80.
He suffered a cardiac failure during his morning walk on the campus a local media reported.
The death occurred around 9 a.m, according to the authorities of Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre.
He had been under treatment at the facility for the last five days. He was accompanied by his daughter and personal doctor, they said.
The hospital authorities said his body would be embalmed and further steps would be taken as per the instructions from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Kenyan Embassy in New Delhi.
Mr. Odinga had a close connection with the hospital as his daughter Rosemary Odinga had underwent treatment here after she had lost her sight completely in 2017 following optic nerve damage.
He had expressed gratitude to the physicians at the centre for helping her regain vision after the treatment began in 2019.
Mr. Odinga had served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008-2013. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata constituency from 1992 to 2013 and had been the Leader of the Opposition in Kenya for long time.
As opposition leader, Odinga lost all five of his presidential campaigns, with two of the elections leading to chaotic bouts of bloodletting and recrimination a decade apart.
His work as a democracy activist over the years helped seal two of the country's most important reforms: multiparty democracy in 1991 and a new constitution in 2010.
He led the protests after the disputed 2007 election that plunged the country into its most serious episode of political violence since independence.
About 1,300 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes in the battles.
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