Siaya Governor James Orengo has questioned the circumstances surrounding the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Speaking during an interview at a local station on Thursday, March 5, 2026, Orengo suggested that the late former Prime Minister might not have travelled to India willingly.
“I said this with a heavy heart, and I must be sensitive to the feelings of the family. So I would not say as much as I think I should say. At an appropriate time, I’ll try to talk about it a little louder. But I’m saying if you look at the circumstances in which Raila was evacuated from Kenya, he didn’t go to India willingly,” the Siaya governor said.
“I think he was almost, you know, forced to go to India and to a particular institution with a company of certain individuals who I have a lot of questions to raise about”, he added.
According to Orengo, the was no postmortem results to show the official cause of Raila’s death.
“We don’t have a post-mortem report now. But looking at all the elements Raila had, which were in the public domain, it’s quite clear that what caused his death had nothing to do with the elements that he had. So I believe that there was some intervention. And if a proper inquiry is held and established, the truth will come out”.
The governor further cited on his past experience in high-profile cases to justify his position.
“Sometimes even when professionals tell you that this is what happened, it requires verification. Ouko, when he died, somebody suggested, and these were government people, that he committed suicide and then burnt himself. I was in the Julie Ward trial. Again, one of those murders that if one didn’t go into verification of what actually happened, it would have been dismissed,” He said.
“The nation is being put to slumber to accept the death of Raila as natural. But I’m saying that we need to look into it. There is a public interest, by virtue of his position,” Orengo added.
