Raila Odinga falls ill, spends night in hospital

Conflicting details have come to light over the hospitalisation of Opposition leader Raila Odinga at a Nairobi hospital, where he was treated for food poisoning.

Sources close to Mr Odinga said he was taken to Karen Hospital on Tuesday night after developing complications related to food poisoning.

He stayed there overnight and discharged on Wednesday morning when his condition improved.

However, his spokesman Dennis Onyango told the Nation on Wednesday that the Nasa (National Super Alliance) co-principal was taken to the Karen Hospital on Wednesday morning, treated for food poisoning and allowed to go home.

“He was taken to Karen Hospital in the morning hours and treated for food poisoning and then discharged,” Mr Onyango said.

The anonymous sources added that the former Prime Minister was scheduled to attend a meeting with his Nasa co-principals Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang’ula at a Nairobi hotel on Tuesday evening when he fell ill. His aides took him to hospital.

Mr Onyango declined to confirm or deny the reports, only telling the Nation: “Let me not go into the details.”

There were also reports that Mr Odinga had been expected to attend the Devolution Conference at the Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute in Naivasha on Wednesday, even though his name was not on the day’s programme. The official schedule indicates that he would address the conference this afternoon.

ATTENDED MEETINGS

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader is said to have attended meetings at three hotels in Nairobi — one in Westlands and two in the Central Business District — on Tuesday after which he developed complications.

On Monday, he attended the burial of former Nyeri governor Nderitu Gachagua in Mathira Constituency, where he shared the podium with President Uhuru Kenyatta and his predecessor Mwai Kibaki. He is said not to have eaten anything at the ceremony.

The veteran politician had travelled straight to Nyeri for the burial after landing in the country from Nigeria, where he attended the grand opening of the first presidential library in Africa, the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

UNDERWENT SURGERY

Mr Odinga underwent head surgery at Nairobi Hospital on the night of June 28, 2010, when he was the Prime Minister in the Grand Coalition government with President Kibaki, which kept him out of office for close to a month.

He would later reveal his anxious moments before the surgery, reminiscing about how he looked his wife Ida in the eye and told her that he was at peace with himself if that were to be his last day. Minutes later, doctors wheeled him into the operating theatre.

Mr Odinga had instructed his staff and doctors to give the public regular updates on his condition. He said that he was diagnosed with malaria before other tests confirmed that he was suffering from pressure being exerted on his brain.

He said the illness had started as a simple headache. “I was prescribed with anti-malarials but the headaches persisted,” said Mr Odinga.

A friend suggested that he could have had a problem with his sinuses. He recalled: “I consulted an ear, nose and throat specialist and was told that I was fine.”