President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday joined a chorus of African leaders mourning the death of Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, praising him as a “freedom fighter” and a dedicated Pan-Africanist.
In a statement dated Oct. 15, 2025, Museveni said he received the news of Odinga’s death “with alot of sadness.” He eulogized the former Kenyan prime minister as a leader who, like his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, was ideologically aligned with a “patriotic and Pan-Africanist orientation.”
“I have shared ideas with both of them,” Museveni wrote. “Their sentiments have been for the unity of Kenya, East Africa and Africa, including always supporting the struggles for the realization of our dream for the East African Federation.”
Museveni highlighted the void left by such veteran leaders and called on young people to “fill the void left by such historical fighters for Africa’s future.” He extended his condolences to Kenyan President William Ruto, the people of Kenya, and Odinga’s family.
Odinga, a central and often controversial figure in Kenyan politics for decades, died Wednesday at age 80 in a hospital in Kochi, India, after suffering a cardiac arrest.
In response, President Ruto declared a seven-day period of national mourning and ordered that Odinga, a former prime minister, receive a state funeral. Ruto described him as a champion of reforms who “shaped the course of our history.”
Tributes for Odinga, a veteran democracy activist who was imprisoned multiple times, poured in from across the continent. The head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, called him a “towering figure” and a “steadfast champion of democracy.”
In Kenya, crowds of mourning supporters gathered in his political strongholds, reflecting his enduring, complex legacy as a leader who fought for multiparty democracy and a new constitution, but whose contested election losses also sparked violent ethnic clashes.