NAIROBI, Kenya

 President William Ruto has declared Wednesday a seven-day national mourning and announced that Raila Odinga, will be accorded a state funeral with full honors.

The national flag will fly at half-mast across Kenya and at its diplomatic missions abroad. 

A State House statement said the government of India will assist in repatriating Odinga’s remains. 

Parliament has been instructed to don somber black attire during a special sitting Thursday, in a session set aside for lawmakers to pay tribute to the late leader. 

Amid the atmosphere of grief, chaos and looting have been reported in areas of Nairobi as news of his death spread. 

Over five decades, Odinga became one of East Africa’s most influential and enduring political figures. He led Kenya’s pro-democracy movement that ended one-party rule in 1991 and played a key role in drafting the 2010 Constitution.

A trained engineer who studied in East Germany, Odinga served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013 under a power-sharing deal following the post-election crisis that left more than 1,000 people dead.

He ran unsuccessfully for president five times in 1997, 2007, 2013, 2017, and 2022 but remained the face of Kenya’s opposition and a powerful voice for reform.

Odinga was detained for six years in the 1980s under President Daniel Arap Moi’s regime, accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

His later alliances and reform campaigns turned him into a central figure in Kenya's push for constitutional change, economic justice and good governance.

He is survived by his wife, Ida, and their four children.

Leaders from across Africa and beyond paid tribute, calling him a “champion of democracy” and a statesman whose effect extended far beyond Kenya’s borders.