"I Was With Raila In India, I Stopped the Machines When He Took His Last Breath" Ruth Odinga Says

Ruth Odinga has given a deeply emotional account of her brother Raila Odinga’s final moments in India, revealing that she was the one who stopped the machines that kept him alive.

The former Kisumu Deputy Governor said the moment marked the most painful decision of her life.

She recalled standing beside Raila’s hospital bed, surrounded by doctors and family members, as his breathing grew weaker.

When the doctors confirmed that nothing more could be done, she gathered her strength and made the decision to let him rest.

“I laid him down gently and stopped the machines,” Ruth said with tears in her eyes. 

“When I did that, I felt the whole nation fall silent inside me. I said to myself, Kenya is lost.”

Ruth described the atmosphere in the hospital room as heavy and heartbreaking. The rhythmic beeping of the machines stopped, and a deep stillness filled the room as the family realized Raila was gone.

She said the decision to switch off the machines was not just medical but deeply emotional, symbolizing the end of a man who had fought his entire life for others. Raila’s courage, she said, remained evident even in his final moments.

Ruth expressed that holding his hand as the machines went silent was both an honour and a burden. 

She knew the man lying before her was not only her brother but a giant whose voice had carried a nation for decades.

As she walked out of the hospital room, Ruth said she felt the weight of Kenya’s uncertainty without Raila. 

“I don’t know where the country is headed,” she said quietly, “because when those machines stopped, a part of Kenya stopped too.”