Siaya Senator Oburu Odinga has revealed why Former President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga did not attend the burial of Chief of Defence Forces General Francis Omondi Ogolla.
Speaking during the burial at Senator Obama K'Ogello Primary School, Siaya county, Oburu said the Former President was out of the country and was therefore unable to attend the burial.
"I bring condolences of the former president Uhuru Kenyatta. He is out of the country and has asked me to bring his condolences to the family," he said.
On his younger brother, Raila, Oburu said the ODM leader was indisposed and thus he sent him to represent him and the larger Jaramogi Oginga Odinga family.
"I am also here to bring the condolences of my brother Raila who has sent me here because he is a bit indisposed. He could not come and he has therefore asked me to come personally to represent him," he said.
Raila, however, attended the memorial service staged at the Ulinzi Sports Complex on Saturday during which he also passed his condolence message.
The two leaders were conspicuously missing during the burial service raising eyebrows among Kenyans considering General Ogolla worked closely with them at some time in his career.
During the era of Former President Uhuru, General Ogolla was the Vice Chief of Defence Forces.
General Ogolla is being laid to rest this Sunday, three days after he lost his life in a plane crash in West Pokot.
President William Ruto is leading senior government officials in the send-off of the CDF Ogolla whom he promoted to a four-star general and Chief of Defence Forces.
While explaining why he named Ogolla CDF, Ruto said he was convinced by his competency in appointing him to the role.
“I made a conscious decision that we are going to take a different trajectory as a country where merit, professionalism and competency must come before ethnicity. I made up my mind that General Ogolla deserved to be CDF,” he stated.
Ruto said that within the short period, Ogolla was the Chief of Defence Forces, he made a huge difference.
"From where I sit with the amount of information I get, General Ogalla made a very big difference in his leadership, the fact that he could reach out to all actors, the synergy he had built with the police and all the other arms was just on a different level," he added.
