Former Kenyan Prime Minister and opposition leader Raila Odinga was buried in the country’s west after a prayer attended by thousands on Sunday.
“Now Papa has finally returned home,” said his son, Raila Odinga Jr., standing next to his father’s coffin, draped in the Kenyan flag.
The burial capped days of memorials that at times led to chaos, as at least five mourners died on other occasions and dozens were injured during a public funeral on Saturday.
Odinga died on Wednesday at the age of 80 in an Indian hospital.
He became prime minister after the bloody and disputed 2007 elections, was the main opposition leader for many years, and lost five presidential campaigns, the last three years ago.
It maintains a cult following in the west of the country. Former US President Barack Obama, whose Kenyan family hails from the same region, described Odinga as a “true champion of democracy.”
Politicians, his relatives and crowds of supporters waved Kenyan flags and held his picture high as they gathered for a memorial service on Sunday, which was held at a Bondo university.
One mourner told Agence France-Presse: “Even in the grave, he is still our hero.”
Military personnel carried Odinga’s coffin to the front, where a choir sang and he was remembered by speakers, including Kenyan President William Ruto.
“His courage, vision and unwavering belief in our collective destiny will forever light the way of our nation,” Ruto said in a Facebook post about the event.
“His return to Bondo was not just a homecoming; it was the embrace of a grateful republic bidding farewell to one of its greatest sons, a patriot who dedicated his life to the cause of justice, democracy and the lasting unity of our beloved Kenya.”
Odinga was buried nearby at his late father’s house, where there is a family mausoleum.
Several commemorative events have already been held, including a state funeral in Nairobi on Friday and a public parade at a stadium in his home city of Kisumu on Saturday.
During the parade, tens of thousands passed in front of his open coffin, many of them chanting, “We are orphans.”
At least three people were killed when The police opened fire to disperse the mournerswith dozens injured in the chaotic scenes that followed.