{"id":123135,"date":"2025-10-15T12:07:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T12:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/10\/15\/ida-odinga-describes-late-husband-raila-as-half-german-during-envoys-condolence-visit\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T12:07:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T12:07:59","slug":"ida-odinga-describes-late-husband-raila-as-half-german-during-envoys-condolence-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/ida-odinga-describes-late-husband-raila-as-half-german-during-envoys-condolence-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Ida Odinga describes late husband Raila as \u2018half-German\u2019 during envoy\u2019s condolence visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 15 \u2014 Ida Odinga, the widow of Kenya\u2019s late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, has described her husband as \u201chalf-German,\u201d in a touching reflection shared with the German Ambassador during a condolence visit at her Karen home on Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>German Ambassador to Kenya Sebastian Groth said he was struck by Ida\u2019s remark when he visited the Odinga family to express his condolences following Raila\u2019s death  in India.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just gave condolences to Mama Ida Odinga at her residence in Karen. Wished her strength and courage at this difficult moment. She looked at me and said about Baba: \u2018He was half-German,\u2019\u201d Ambassador Groth wrote in a social media post.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.capitalfm.co.ke\/news\/2025\/10\/detention-constitutional-reform-and-handshakes-raila-odinga-bows-out-at-80\/\">Detention, constitutional reform and handshakes: Raila Odinga bows out at 80 \u00bb Capital News (capitalfm.co.ke)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>His ties to Germany date back to the late 1960s when he studied mechanical engineering in the then East Germany at the Technical School of Magdeburg. <\/p>\n<p>Raila, 80, died while undergoing treatment in Koothattukulam, Ernakulam, India, after suffering a heart attack.<\/p>\n<p>His passing has sparked an outpouring of grief across Kenya and beyond, with world leaders paying tribute to a man remembered for his resilience, reformist zeal, and decades-long fight for democracy.<\/p>\n<p>Ambassador Groth said Germany joins Kenya in mourning a leader whose legacy extended far beyond his country\u2019s borders, describing Odinga as a statesman whose life\u2019s work strengthened democratic ideals and international friendship.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 15 \u2014 Ida Odinga, the widow of Kenya\u2019s late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, has described her husband as \u201chalf-German,\u201d in a touching reflection shared with the German Ambassador during a condolence visit at her Karen home on Wednesday. German Ambassador to Kenya Sebastian Groth said he was struck by Ida\u2019s remark [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}