Old speech misrepresented as Kenyan politician Raila Odinga’s final public address
- Published on October 30, 2025 at 13:24
- 3 min read
- By Peris GACHAHI, AFP Kenya
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Kenya’s veteran opposition leader, Raila Odinga, died in October 2025, reportedly from cardiac arrest while receiving treatment in India. A video circulating online claims to show Odinga’s final message – about death and the afterlife – purportedly delivered shortly before he died. But this is false; the clip is two years old. Odinga’s last public address was on September 22, 2025 when he chaired a party meeting in Machakos County.
“Raila Odinga last message before his death,” reads the text overlaid on a TikTok post published on October 15, 2025, and shared more than 4,500 times.
In the clip, Odinga says: “And I want to say that death is a necessary evil and therefore there is no need to fear death. If you are sick, there are only two things that can happen to you: you will be treated and you will get well. You have nothing to fear. But if you don’t recover, then you will die cause you will either go to heaven or hell.”
Before breaking into laughter, he adds that “if you go to heaven, there is nothing to worry about, you’ll be okay. Even if you go to hell, there is nothing to worry about. You will find so many of your friends”.
The logo of German political foundation Konrad Adenauer Stiftung can be seen in the background (archived here).
The clip was also shared on Facebook with similar claims.
Odinga died at 80 on October 15, 2025, during a health visit at an Ayurvedic clinic in Kerala, India (archived here). Hailed as a champion of democracy, the former prime minister’s remains were repatriated and accorded a state funeral with full military honours (archived here).
However, the clip shared online does not show his final message before his death.
Old video
AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and established that the footage is almost two years old.
A longer version of the address was published on YouTube by Azimio TV, Odinga’s official party channel, on November 10, 2023.
“LIVE: Transforming a Nation Conference - Ref. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung,” reads the title.
While Odinga indeed made the remarks on death and the afterlife in jest, the clip omits some context from his full speech, found at about the 96-minute mark in the original video.
“My brother has talked so elaborately about so many things ... desperation in our country, how Kenyans are dying because of lack of food and so on,” he says, referring to the previous speaker. “I was telling some other people that maybe death is not a very bad thing.”
He then quotes from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, saying: “Some cowards die many times before their deaths, but the brave do not taste death but once.”
Much to the amusement of his audience, he proceeds to say what is heard in the TikTok clip, which also cuts out the following part: “... don’t fear, you have nothing to fear; as Kenyans, we will succeed in the long run.”
He then goes on to speak about the need for transformative leadership, inclusive democracy, and strengthening the country's institutions.
In both videos, Odinga is seen wearing the same outfit and speaking in front of the same backdrop.
Notably, Odinga’s last televised address was on September 22, 2025, at an ODM party meeting in Machakos County, during which he cautioned against populist politics, urging leaders to focus on principled, long-term governance and policy-based leadership over short-term applause (archived here).
He made no comments that could be interpreted as foreshadowing his death in this address.
Additionally, his final social media posts were also unrelated to his health -- one on October 3 on Facebook about Gor Mahia Football Club, where he served as patron, and another on October 8 on X congratulating his party’s nominee Boyd Were ahead of a by-election (archived here and here).
AFP Fact Check has debunked other claims surrounding Odinga’s death here.
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