For a politician who has been in the trenches fighting for Kenya’s democracy since the 1980s, it was no mean feat to lose his firstborn son in a mysterious death.
And as if that was not hard enough for the family, a second child has now become blind.
This is the case for Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Raila has been the face of opposition since his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga exited the stage as the ‘father of opposition politics’.
On January 4, 2015, Raila woke up to the saddest news ever; that his firstborn son Fidel Odinga was no more.
Fidel was found dead in his house.
According to sources close to the family, Raila hoped that his firstborn son would take over the mantle of the Odinga dynasty which has dominated Kenya’s politics since independence.
Known to pick up from the worst and rejuvenate himself, Raila overcame the death of Fidel and took over his first-born daughter Rosemary Odinga to groom her.
Rosemary was promising to be a cut from his father’s clothe and plunged into Kenya’s politics with an eye for Kibra MP seat.
But before she could even print a single poster for the 2017 race, misfortune struck the family again and she went blind.
A video of herself being aided to walk and her story of how she has accepted her new life touched Kenyans.
These are children who never had their father as he was always on the move or at the deadly Nyayo chambers being tortured after rubbing the government the wrong way.
And now, there is nothing for the family to enjoy.
“Raila’s first born son is dead, first born daughter is blind and last born is paralysed. This is too painful for a man who has been fighting to have a good Kenya. As Mandela would say, of what good would it be to save the whole world but lose your own family?” George Dacos posted in a Facebook group.
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