Royal Media Services (RMS) Chairman Dr SK Macharia has described the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga as a close friend, a committed democrat and a leader he believed Kenya needed as president.
Speaking at Raila’s first death anniversary memorial at Migwena Grounds in Siaya County on October 15, Macharia said Raila’s death was a personal loss to him and his family.
“What this family feels about the loss, I and my family equally lost a great friend, a great Kenyan and a president that Kenya needed but never had,” he said.
Macharia recalled the support Raila and his brother, Oburu Oginga, gave him after Raila lost the 2022 presidential election. He said the brothers came to his home to console him.
“In the 2022 election, when Raila did not make it, Raila and his brother Oburu came to my house to cool me down. It is not me who went to Raila. It is he and his brother who came to my house,” Macharia said.
He traced his relationship with the Odinga family to his first meeting with Raila’s father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. Macharia said he met Jaramogi during a visit to Kisumu General Hospital with former President Jomo Kenyatta.
“I saw a man committed to this country,” Macharia recalled.
He said Jaramogi later asked him to look after his sons, Raila and Oburu, if anything happened to him. Macharia said the request helped shape his lasting relationship with the two brothers and their families.
Macharia also described how he supported Raila’s political campaigns over the years. He said that during the 2022 campaign, he provided Raila with a helicopter, a pilot and fuel at his own expense.
“You can imagine for a man of my calibre in the last election providing Raila the helicopter, a pilot and all the fuel to do the campaign at my cost,” he said.
The RMS chairman said he spoke with Raila two days before his death. According to Macharia, the former prime minister had asked him to travel to Siaya to support Oburu at a function involving the county government.
Macharia recalled that Raila told him he was well and expected to return to Nairobi within two or three days. The assurance made Raila’s death especially shocking on his side.
The memorial was held at Migwena Grounds on the first anniversary of Raila’s death. He died in India on October 15, 2025.
Macharia said Raila’s commitment to democracy and his personal concern for others were among the qualities he admired. He concluded that Raila had been more than a political ally: he was a close friend whose loss was deeply felt by Macharia and his family.
