In 1997, a chance encounter at a health and fitness centre would mark the beginning of a 29-year bond between the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his aide and bodyguard, Maurice Ogetta. It was an encounter that also saved Raila from a threat posed to him during the height of the struggle for a multiparty political system.
In a rare media interview, Maurice, who has stayed away from the public eye, narrates not only how the two first met but also the ebbs and flows their bond endured, right up to Raila’s final days at a quiet village in India, where he had travelled to seek medical treatment. We asked who had checked on Raila’s former bodyguard since the former Prime Minister died.
“Wow. Kenyans have really checked on me and friends that I did build when working for Raila. Let me not to mention those who have surprised me by not calling, but the book is coming, so they are there. Remember, I was Raila’s aide or bodyguard and, by extension, all the mheshimiwa’s are my bosses in a way. And there is a way we related. And for Governor Abdulswamad from Mombasa, he was the last person… even if somebody gave me a multiple-choice quiz, I would have gotten so many wrongs before deciding it was him (to give me a job), so I owe him a lot. The people who have checked on me the most, I don’t know if it is by fate or design, but the majority are not Luos. Most are from the Coast and North Eastern or the Northern side,” Maurice states.
Raila's ex-aide Ogetta details 30-year-old bond with the late statesman
On multiple occasions, Maurice had confirmed that he was ready to speak to the media, only to decline.
“I’m not very sure whether I’m ready even as of now to say everything. But I thought, and seeing how things are happening and questions from all over, I thought I should also try not to be so mean because mheshimiwa Raila Odinga was Kenyan property. You can imagine 1997 to date is 29 years, then someone leaves you without notice,” he says.
The late Raila was known by an array of nicknames, including “the enigma”, a description that reflected his resilience in surviving multiple attacks on him. Yet, as Maurice narrates, he never had a conversation with him about death in general terms or, specifically, his own.
“Unfortunately, he did not prepare me for that, and I would say he took death so lightly but also so serious. Why am I saying that? Because if he learnt that someone had died… you could see how affected or how emotional or how much he would go out of his way to console the persons. At times we would get it very hard because if you did not get to see that thing in good time and tell him, then you would also be in a problem and Raila being him,” Maurice says.
Only once does Maurice’s calm demeanour during the interview give way, revealing the pain he experienced when asked whether there had ever been a time, before 2025, when he thought he would lose the former Prime Minister.
“Let me just go to the one in almost everyone’s memory of Pipeline demonstrations. All of them were so tricky and life-threatening, like, will we get out of this place? But this one I think was the last one that mzee went for because after that I was abducted… it was a blessing in disguise because the maandamano ended there. For the first time, my blood registered that we were dead. The only thing I was waiting for is who is going to go first… which unfortunately it was me first because remember I was the protector… so maybe me then the driver then we were theirs to do whatever they want. The officer who was in charge of my boss’ security at that given time and day called Mr Chwanya, I heard him say is… wameua mzee . (They have killed Raila),” Maurice narrates.
Maurice Ogetta, the late Raila Odinga’s long-serving paide during an interview at The Heron Hotel, Nairobi, on October 9, 2026.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
He goes on: “I had registered we were gone and I had to encourage him. I told him no bado hajakufa…maintain mahali uko (no, he has not died, just maintain) we are trying to turn. He said ‘are you sure?’ I told him yes, just maintain and you know at that time, the attacker is right there trying to see where the boss is and at that time there is teargas and water cannons so you can’t see the screen so well. I remember asking the driver we were with “Niue huyu mtu? “ (should I kill this attacker?) because I was asking this guy what is this, you’ve already blocked us, we are trying to turn. I was asking because there were so many things going through your mind. But I knew I could not do it because I have only one and this is an armoury with everything so it would be like I am provoking them then they respond. Then with armoured cars you cannot open the windows, they don’t go down so it’s only the door and you can imagine a situation where I open the door to try and they are ready. All this time, my boss is down, not even on the seat, I have forced him to lie down and my other hand is pressing him because him being him, he wanted to see what was happening. Yet I don’t want them to know his position.”
Abduction and Sh15m cash loss
Maurice, who was later abducted amid the Azimio-led anti-government protests of 2023, reiterates that, in hindsight, his abduction may have been a silver lining.
“Some of our guys really exposed me and Professor Makau, to date I am not sure whether I have forgiven him on that. Why? He was in our boss’s car, we are in those situations of a demonstration and you are recording live the happenings how we are in this vehicle and the coordination we are doing. If you are doing it live it is being seen by friends and enemies at the same time. I was surprised I got calls from USA and South Africa that there is something you are doing there that is not good, I asked what? Turning I saw it was Professor Makau,” he says.
His boss’s reaction to his abduction?
“He was a funny character. Instead of making you feel you went through some pain, he asked me “Maurice ata hawa watu wamekupatia baptism?” [Maurice, these people have also baptized you?] Of course, that was his way of making you feel things are not that tough, but it really did affect him. I remember when I was abducted on the 19th and on the 20th or 21st we were meant to go to London. He cancelled the trip and with my abduction, that is how the demonstrations ended.”
During the melee, he says, some Sh14.7 million meant for Mr Odinga was stolen by the abductors.
Raila Odinga and his bodyguard Maurice Ogetta in a past photo.
Photo credit: Pool
“You see some people so many said so many different things, I stole the money, Ogetta faked abduction. Funny the same people who said that were in hiding so they would not be abducted. Which part of it was my bosses and part of it was an investment and Mheshimiwa Raila when I told him what happened, he asked me if I had that parcel? I said yes because I was taking it back to him. He said “yeah I know that is the first thing they would take” they even took my car and almost dismantled everything inside. Because of the trust, he understood that such things happen. But you see he was at a different level. For me that was some of the savings I had saved for quite some time and it pushed me back 10 years,” Maurice recalls.
On Raila’s final days, Maurice says there was little indication of what was about to happen as they prepared for Raila’s walk on the morning of October 15, 2025, in India.
“We went through the normal routine I told him now that we are going to walk, stretch a bit while you are seated which he did and me supervising or helping him but of course these are things we did all the time so some of them he knows. He asked for a glass of water and joked about a woman who had already woken up early to tend to her farm in Kerelam. . .With exercises he was so easy and wanted to do it so he started by stretching on the seat then said “now we can go.” He starts walking. We made the first circuit which by the time you go round that villa is around 50 or less metres. We do one round, he stops, he decided to go again, we go for the second round. We did not even go quarter way and he stopped. I asked him what is it then he just looked like something had hit him. I was busy asking him mzee is it your back or the leg is paining? He did not talk by the way. I asked the question again then I said let’s go sit I check for you. He just turned his head and gave me his hand by the time I was trying to hold his hand so we walk, I realized he was coming towards me with his entire body. He had lost control of his whole body. I took a different stand to support him and that is how it happened,” Maurice remembers.
He laid him on the ground, placing him in a recovery position.
“I started shouting for help. Strangely enough, there was no other word other than the conversation we had about the shamba. By the time the doctors came in, CPR and going to the hospital…that was it. That was how fast it happened,” Maurice says.
Maurice Ogetta, the late Raila Odinga’s long-serving paide during an interview at The Heron Hotel, Nairobi, on October 9, 2026.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
Maurice makes a telling statement during his interview with The Nation: most Kenyans did not actually know the late Raila Odinga.
Many saw him as tough and stubborn. But the late Prime Minister’s aide says that, behind closed doors, Raila had a problem saying no and was over-accommodating — something Maurice feels many people took advantage of.
“Funny enough I still fail to register. It still bothers me because as late as last Thursday it still happens at times I rush to my phone thinking he’s called and I missed it. Sometimes I start heading to work where we were and I remember, oh why was I going there? Sometimes with politics around and politicians some of these ringtones and songs they play takes me back to October 15th,” Maurice states.
