Opposition Chief Raila Odinga has issued a statement on his daughter's health condition maintaining that the family's position is to treat the matter with utmost privacy.
In a strongly-worded statement relayed by his spokesman on Sunday, Raila termed as false the story splashed on The Sunday Standard's front page which indicated that his daughter – Rosemary – had suffered a mild stroke causing her admission in a South African hospital.
"Ida and Raila Odinga are horrified by the lead story in today's Sunday Standard by the title Raila: Why I fear for my daughter.
"The story is a fraudulent exercise of journalism, which attempts to pass fictitious suppositions of the writer on the medical condition of Rosemary Odinga and on the position of the Odinga family on matters surrounding her health and career as truths," part of the statement reads in part.
The local daily had reported that sources close to the family revealed that Rosemary, 39, had suffered a mild stroke and that the family was considering having her shelve her political ambitions until she is fully recovered.
According to Raila's statement, however, neither his family nor family friends were consulted before the story was published.
Odinga termed the story "a con" noting that Kenyans who bought the newspaper because of the said article had been cheated.
"It is shameful that the writer has sacrificed common decency and trampled over Rosemary's rights to privacy, both standard requirements of professional journalism, in order to fabricate a story for his selfish gratification and sales for the company.
"Readers must treat this story as a con and know they have been cheated of any money they spent on it," Odinga added.
Rosemary, who seeking to be the next Kibra MP in the August elections, was flown to South Africa last week for what the family termed as further check up.
She had first been admitted in Nairobi Hospital after complaining of headaches and then transferred to Aga Khan University Hospital.
Her family has, however, remained tight-lipped over her condition with details on her illness remaining scanty.
