Raila Odinga’s sister and Kisumu Deputy Governor, Ruth Odinga, has denied insulting Veronicah Wanjiru, the first wife of Fidel Odinga, who was buried on Saturday in Bondo.

Ruth, who is Cord leader, Raila Odinga, sister, said she never talked about Wanjiru’s ability to bear children during the funeral service of Fidel Odinga at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology on Saturday.

“I am a champion of women and I would never talk about that in public. I got to where I am because of championing for women. It would be against my principles to say such a thing,” Ruth told the Star on phone yesterday.

“What I said is that at first I was not in support of their marriage before I knew Veronicah well. What Oburu said is his own statement.”

Senator Emma Mbura criticised nominated MP Oburu Oginga’s sentiments that Wanjiru was barren as she could not get a child during her four-year marriage to Fidel Odinga.

She wants Oburu to apologise to all Kenyan women for “insulting them”. Ruth said she gets along well with Wanjiru and the widow of Fidel Odinga, Lwam Bekele. “I respect women because I am a woman. How can I say such a thing?” Ruth asked.

She said she knows a lot of women, even in her own family, who are barren but she would never talk about them in any forum. “Veronicah is my friend even today and I have nothing against her,” Ruth said.

The ugly incidents that took place at Fidel Odinga’s burial on Saturday were an embarrassment and downright disrespectful, Mrs. Ida Odinga has said. Denouncing the heckling of leaders at the burial site at Kango Ka Jaramogi on Sunday, Ida dissociated her family from them.

Ida said the views expressed by some leaders were not necessarily the views of her family. She however asked the leaders and mourners to pardon those involved.

Among those heckled were Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu and her Defence counterpart Raychelle Omamo.

Omamo was reading a condolence message from President Uhuru Kenyatta when the crowd abused her and threw empty plastic bottles towards her.

Speaking at the same site, Raila Odinga, the habit was primitive and the youth were an embarrassment.

Speaking in dholuo, Mr Odinga said it was wrong for anyone to boo a person who had travelled from far to stand in solidarity with a bereaved family.

“In our culture, we believe whoever stands with you at a time of grief is your friend,” he told the mourners. “How do you turn around and boo such people and try to stop them from speaking?”

Among those heckled even as Mr Odinga gestured at the youths to calm down were Cabinet Secretaries Raychelle Omamo (Defence) and Charity Ngilu (Lands and Housing).

The youth threw plastic bottles at Ms Omamo, who withstood heavy heckling as she read a condolence message from President Kenyatta.

The Cord leader specifically condemned the booing of Ms Omamo, whom he described as a daughter of Bondo known very well to its residents.
She is the daughter of former minister William Odongo Omamo, who was once the MP for Bondo and Muhoroni.

“Uhuru was with me at home and in church to mourn Fidel. He deployed the entire State machinery to ensure Fidel gets a decent burial, then all you do is shout down his messenger. It is wrong!” said Mr Odinga. The conduct was a show of lack of respect among the youths, whom he said needed the help of those they shouted at, he added.

Fidel Odinga’s widow, Lwam Gatechew Bekele, for the first time described him in a moving tribute at his requiem mass at All Saints Cathedral on Thursday.

“My Love where do I even begin? You defied all preconceptions, you made me laugh without a reason,” she said.

An emotional Lwam moved the mourners to tears in a short letter to her love. She surrendered her future and that of her one-and-a-half-year-old son to God.

“The living God who gave you to me will be there for us,” she said. Ida Odinga, Fidel’s mother, reassured Lwam in her own moving tribute.

“He has left a wife and that is our daughter and we will love you Lwam, you are an Odinga,” Ida said. She told mourners how at 18 Fidel said he wanted to go to a nightclub for the first time.

“I told him one, to buy your own Soda. Two, girls are not toys, respect them,” she said. President Uhuru Kenyatta said Fidel Odinga was a man who held no grudges and did not associate himself with tribalism.

“In December, Fidel Odinga called me and he wanted us to meet and I agreed but unfortunately that never came to pass,” he said. He added that the cause of death will be determined. “To Lwam we are as open to you as we were to Fidel, we are your elder brothers,” Uhuru said.

His father, Raila Odinga, said Fidel Odinga was a young, humble and humorous man, whose names ‘Castro’ and ‘Odinga’ earned him both friends and enemies.

Deputy President William Ruto who was among the dignitaries at the mass described Fidel’s death as a big loss.

“Castro’s death is not only a loss to his family and friends but to the wider Kenyan family,” Ruto said. His sister Winnie said he was an intelligent, independent and good elder brother. Fidel Odinga’s uncle Oburu Odinga spoke on behalf of the family.

“If his death was as a result of human hand, that person really calculated and hit us below the belt,” he said.

Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka said Fidel Odinga stood for the good of the country. On behalf of his friends, Joe Nyaga said Fidel Odinga was a loving and true friend who taught them a lot about life.

“He taught us to live the life we love and love the life we live, life is short,” he said. Fidel will be buried in Bondo on Saturday. More than 10,000 mourners are expected.

Controversial businessman Paul Kobia has been admitted at Aga Khan hospital after running amok. Police say his family took him to Gigiri police station after he became violent at his Runda home. Sources say he kept saying ‘I killed Fidel’, claims police have dismissed.

Acting Inspector General of Police Samuel Arachi dismissed media reports claiming Kobia had been arrested. “Mr Paul Kobia was taken to Gigiri Police station by his family who wanted to be assisted in having him restrained and escorted to a psychiatrist after he started shouting incoherently and acting violently,” Arachi said in a statement.

Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko said Paul Kobia had claimed knowing how Fidel Odinga died.

Fidel died on Sunday morning at his Karen home. Pathologists are yet to release the cause of death.

Paul Kobia last year threatened Cord leader Raila Odinga and told him to respect President Uhuru Kenyatta’s reign.

The businessman with interests in gold is a licensed firearm holder who once attacked a business partner.