Kenyatta, a Kikuyu leader and pan-Africanist, became Kenya's first Prime Minister in 1963 and President in 1964.
Odinga, a Luo intellectual and businessman, was a key nationalist who rose to prominence in the anti-colonial movement.
Their relationship evolved from close collaboration during the fight against British rule to a bitter rivalry that profoundly shaped Kenya's political landscape.
Odinga and Kenyatta's partnership began in the late 1940s and intensified in the 1950s amid the Mau Mau uprising and broader push for self-rule. Odinga joined the Kenya African Union (KAU) in 1948, where Kenyatta was a central figure, and later co-founded the Kenya African National Union (KANU) in 1960 alongside Tom Mboya.
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga mourned the late President Jomo Kenyatta by performing a traditional Luo dirge at State House, Nairobi, where Kenyatta’s body lay in state after his death on August 22, 1978.
Dressed in grand Luo traditional regalia and blowing an “oporo” (a traditional horn), Odinga chanted “dengo,” a mixture of praise, poetry, and expressions of pleasant memories, anger, and disappointment for losing a friend and political ally-turned-adversary.
Despite their ideological differences and political fallout, Odinga’s dirge was a significant gesture, reflecting his complex relationship with Kenyatta, whom he had supported for Kenya’s presidency but later opposed due to differing visions for the country.
Specific words or phrases from the dirge are not verbatim documented in available sources, but it was described as a poignant, traditional Luo lament.
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