Oburu Odinga, the older brother of the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, has detailed the final conversation he had with him before learning of his demise the following morning.
Speaking during an interview with NTV on Sunday night, the interim ODM Party Leader got candid on how the conversation had ended with plans to meet later in the week.
He relayed that the two had planned to reunite in Dubai on Saturday, as Raila was to be discharged from the Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Centre in two days.
"I spoke with him the night he died, and he was in very good spirits and we talked over a lot of issues," Oburu said.
"He was to meet me that weekend. That was Tuesday night, and he was to travel to Dubai on Friday. I was travelling to Dubai on Sunday, and so we were planning to meet there, as he was to stay for four days."
This last call, Oburu said, had been the reason why the news of his death had caught him off guard, as he had believed his brother was on the route to recovery.
His hope was mainly hinged on the fact that Raila was not receiving any treatment at the facility where he collapsed and that it was tradition for his family to recuperate at the Kerala centre. He had instead received treatment for a blood clot at a facility in Mumbai.
The following morning, when his sister called him to inform him that his brother had collapsed, he recalled that he was changing to go play golf and he almost collapsed as well.
However, he knew that he needed to be strong for the rest of the family, and 20 minutes later, he would receive the dreaded news that doctors were not able to resuscitate Raila.
Just as the death had caught most Kenyans off guard, he said that his family also did not expect the sudden demise and that the communications made to Kenyans on Raila's progress were all true, as he had shown signs of recovery.
This is despite a section of Kenyans presuming that the family, the party and the government had deliberately hidden the real condition of the departed statesman before his death.
He even confirmed that he was in the same room with Deputy President Kithure Kindiki when he made the infamous phone call to Raila that he was trolled over, as Raila would succumb to a heart attack the following day.
