Ruto says Kenya must finish Raila Odinga’s work as mausoleum is handed over

President William Ruto has said Kenya’s duty following the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga is not simply to preserve his memory, but to continue pursuing the ideals he championed.

Speaking on Wednesday at Kang’o ka Jaramogi in Bondo, Siaya County, during the handover of Odinga’s mausoleum, Ruto described the late opposition leader as a “legend” whose political life was defined by the pursuit of a more equitable and united Kenya.

Odinga died in India on 15 October 2025, aged 80.

The mausoleum, built beside the burial site of his father, Kenya’s first vice-president Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, was formally handed over as the country approaches the first anniversary of his death.

Ruto said the two mausoleums represented two generations of political struggle with a shared goal.

“Father and son. Two generations of struggle. One unfinished mission: A prosperous, equitable and united Kenya,” he said.

He said the five-sided design of Odinga’s mausoleum was intended to reflect the Luo concept of Abich, meaning five, which he associated with unity, togetherness and completion.

Ruto also linked the design to the ODM “Pentagon” political alliance of 2007, saying he had been privileged to sit with Odinga and witness his ability to build political bridges across communities.

But the president said the structure itself could not contain Odinga’s legacy.

“A building cannot contain Baba’s legacy. Stone can keep his memory, but only a nation can keep his promises,” he said.

Ruto links government programmes to Raila’s legacy. He used the occasion to highlight government projects and policies that he said reflected causes championed by Odinga.

Ruto cited infrastructure, affordable housing, social protection, healthcare, access to credit, devolution, education and agricultural reforms.

The president said Odinga’s political philosophy could be summed up as equitable transformation the idea that no person or region should be excluded because of where they live, their ethnic background or how they voted.

“Equity is not tokenism. It is justice,” Ruto said. He pointed to planned and ongoing infrastructure projects, including the expansion of the Rironi-Mau Summit highway, the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway towards Kisumu and Malaba, and the Isiolo-Mandera highway.

He also said the government would launch the 500km Lake Victoria ring road before the end of the year.

Ruto said such projects were part of an effort to open up regions that had historically been neglected.

He also pointed to the government’s affordable housing programme, saying more than 17,000 homes were planned in Kibra, the Nairobi constituency Odinga represented in parliament for two decades.

According to Ruto, 303,910 affordable homes are currently at various stages of completion across the country.

On social protection, he said the Inua Jamii programme was distributing Sh3.5billion a month to 1.7 million older people and people with disabilities.

He also said 33.1 million Kenyans had registered with the Social Health Authority, compared with about eight million under the previous public health insurance system.

Ruto also revived one of Odinga’s most familiar political metaphors ‘Canaan’ which he used to describe a more prosperous and just Kenya.

“Canaan is not a place we wait for. It is a nation we build,” Ruto said.

He cited lower fertiliser prices, increased teacher recruitment, new classrooms and laboratories, and reforms to university financing as examples of progress towards that goal.

He said nearly nine million farmers were registered on a digital system through which they could access fertiliser and seed, while fertiliser prices had fallen from about Sh7,500 in 2022 to Sh2,000.

Ruto also said the government had written off historic debts owed by public sugar companies and was restructuring the industry an issue he said Odinga had consistently championed.

He again described his political arrangement with Odinga’s ODM party as a commitment to national unity rather than a deal to share power.

The two political camps came together in the Broad-Based Government following the political unrest of 2024.

Ruto quoted Odinga as telling an ODM parliamentary group meeting in September 2025 that the country should come first, despite differences between political parties and leaders.

“The Broad-Based Government was not a pact for power; it was a commitment to Kenya,” Ruto said.

He said Odinga had also pursued electoral justice and called for compensation for victims of protests and other forms of state violence.

Ruto said hundreds of families had already received compensation and promised that the government would continue the process for verified victims.

He also urged Kenyans to register as voters ahead of next year’s general election, saying political participation was central to the causes Odinga had fought for.

“Baba fought all his life so that your voice would count. Do not silence it yourselves,” he said.

Ruto said the mausoleum was only the first phase of a larger memorial project.

He announced plans for a Raila Memorial Library, Museum and Research Centre at the site, saying it would serve as a place where young Kenyans and visitors from across Africa could study Odinga’s political life and Kenya’s history.

He said the site would also become a major heritage attraction in the western tourism circuit and generate jobs and income for Siaya and the wider region.

Odinga’s political career spanned decades and included imprisonment and detention during the struggle for multiparty democracy, senior government office and several unsuccessful presidential campaigns.

He also served as the African Union’s High Representative for Infrastructure Development.

Ruto said Kenya would continue to promote the values Odinga advocated at continental and international forums, including multilateralism, peace, regional integration and Africa’s role in global affairs.

He reiterated that Odinga’s legacy should be measured not only by monuments but by the lives changed through government action.

“Every road in a forgotten region. Every home rising in Kibra and across Kenya. Every elderly Kenyan supported. Every farmer empowered. Every public office that truly serves the people. That is Raila’s true mausoleum,” Ruto said.