Mourners at Kisumu’s Jomo Kenyatta Stadium could not have agreed more – and loudly echoed these sentiments.
“I remember him for giving us democracy, for giving me our freedom – and now we can talk and we can say anything that we see is bad for us,” Jacob Omondi told the BBC about Odinga’s impact on the country during his three-decade career.
Another mourner, David Ouma, said: “One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from Raila is to be resilient, because Raila was always a very resilient leader through every election… he still rose to try again.”
Many of those packed into the stadium wore orange – the party colour of his Orange Democratic Movement – and waved branches, a traditional symbol of mourning and grief among the Luo ethnic group to which Odinga belonged.
According to the family, it was Odinga’s wish to be laid to rest within the shortest time possible, ideally within 72 hours.
His body will stay overnight at his Opoda farm near Bondo town, which is about 60km (40 miles) west of Kisumu.
On Sunday, a funeral service will be held at a university in Bondo and then there will be a private burial nearby at his late father’s homestead, where there is a family mausoleum.
Additional reporting by the BBC’s Gloria Achieng, Brian Mala & Anne Okumu.
