Details: 5 members of the Odinga family have battled covid-19

Brian Oruta

March 17, 2021 7:30 AM

Raila tested positive for covid-19 last week

File image of Oburu Oginga with Raila Odinga

Last week, reports went around that former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga had been admitted at the Nairobi Hospital for routine tests, but he later confirmed that he had tested positive for covid-19.

A few days later, the ODM leader was discharged from hospital and is currently recuperating at home, thanks to a video shared by his youngest daughter Winnie Odinga.

Details have, however, emerged that Raila Odinga is not the first of the Odinga family to have contracted the virus, and that in a span of five months, 5 members of the Odinga family have battled the disease.

According to a report by People Daily, Raila’s elder brother Oburu Odinga was the first in the family to test positive for covid-19 in October last year, shortly after they hosted a delegation of Kikuyu elders at their home in Bondo. He was then admitted at the Nairobi hospital where he was hospitalized for two weeks.

Oburu Odinga ece-auto-gen

Oburu added that his sister Ruth Odinga soon exhibited the symptoms and spent three days at the Nairobi hospital. His youngest son also tested positive for the disease before the latest cases of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and one other family member whose name he could not reveal.

“According to Oburu, an East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) MP, himself, his sister Ruth Odinga, his son and Raila have at one time or another over the last five months been hospitalized suffering from the disease.

One other family member, whom Oburu declined to name, is currently in isolation after contracting the virus,” reads an excerpt from PD.

Brian Oruta