Siaya senator Oburu Oginga has revealed that his late brother Raila Odinga was battling a clot in his head, before he succumbed in India.
Oburu said that doctors in Nairobi had prescribed strong medication to treat him, prompting him to stop public appearances a few weeks before his demise.
“It was some clot that was discovered on his head, and it was being dissolved by our doctors here in Nairobi,” Oburu said during an interview at NTV on Sunday night.
When asked about his early assertion that Raila was very sick, the Siaya senator added, “I just said that he is unwell, like all human beings become unwell at any other time. He was not in critical condition.”
It’s from the strong medication that Raila was forced to withdraw from public engagements, including the burial of ex-minister Dalmas Otieno in Migori, where he dispatched Oburu to represent him.
His ODM party also cancelled the planned 20th Anniversary celebrations at the last minute.
“I went to represent him there (Dalmas' burial) because he was feeling weak and tired because of that kind of medication.”
The acting ODM party leader disclosed how a meeting held in Raila’s Karen home and attended by President William Ruto and himself convinced his late brother to leave the country for India.
Oburu disclosed that there was a conflict between Kenyan doctors and medical specialists in Dubai regarding Raila’s health condition, which prompted urgent intervention by the president.
“My brother had told me that Ruto had gone to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and that Ruto was coming back and that he was supposed to meet him at State House in the evening, and then I told him that I wanted to go with him to hear what Ruto had to say about his sickness. He told me yes, he will call me when he gets the time,” he said.
Raila could then call to say the President was on his way to Kerarapon drive; “Raila called me and told me that it is Ruto who was to come to his house at 6, and I should go there at 6. I went there and waited for him for about an hour, but he finally came.”
It was during the meeting that they discussed Raila’s condition thoroughly and agreed on the need for immediate medical evacuation to India.
“We agreed that he must go there immediately because there were conflicting positions taken by doctors in Dubai and here. His personal doctor was even given an opportunity to look at the details.”
Ruto then provided a chartered plane that flew him to Mumbai; “The president took that matter seriously and organised for his evacuation to India. I am very grateful to him for what he did. His quick reaction. We would not have managed to work that fast.”
“When he went to India, they managed to clear that clot that was there in Mumbai. So, by the time he left the hospital there, he was up and about, alive and kicking,” Dr Oburu explained, adding that Raila left for Southern India to recuperate.
“He went to recuperate in Kerala. He was there for about a week after being discharged from the hospital.”
The Siaya senator, who described his late brother as his ‘twin’ since they grew together despite an age gap of one year and three months, used the opportunity to call out Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga’s remarks on Raila’s death, terming them childish.
“I thought that Kahiga looks like a mature person because of his age, but those type of thoughts looks childish in my view. I don’t want to take him offensively. As a leader, he should not be thinking of the death of any person, let alone a leader. Whether he was your political enemy, as I said earlier, there are no political enemies. You might be political enemies today, then tomorrow you are together,” Oburu added.
He scoffed at Kahiga, saying he should have been sensitive, wondering how he could have felt then of what was said about him were Raila to be his boss, adding that some of the remarks by some leaders at times don’t annoy him.
“I take it as childish, and I excuse them. I don’t take a grudge with them. I know these are small minds, and if you take grudge with them, your heart might stop earlier than God’s plan,” Oburu retorted.
