The 62nd Mashujaa Day celebrations transformed into a heartfelt national tribute  to the late former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga, as thousands of citizens, dignitaries, and

school children gathered at Ithookwe Stadium in Kitui to honour his life, legacy, and lifelong struggle for justice and unity.

The event opened with a stirring performance by 520 school children dressed in Kenya’s national colours — white, red, green, and black — who waved miniature flags and sang

a moving choral poem: “Raila wetu lala salama (Baba), lala salama Raila shujaa, mwanga wa taifa letu, ulipigania haki na umoja.”

The children hailed Odinga as “the light of the nation,” a hero who fought for justice and unity and “planted the seed of peace.”

They imitated his famous “kitendawili” riddles, drawing cheers and applause from the crowd. Their performance formed artistic symbols a wind vane, star, and sun representing

Raila’s enduring influence and vision for Kenya.

The stadium was filled with emotion as one of Raila’s favourite songs, “I’m On My Way” by a Jamaican artist, played in his memory, blending nostalgia with renewed hope.

President William Ruto led the nation in paying tribute, describing Raila as “a singular spirit, a towering patriot, and a hero for the ages.

“The ‘glory land’ that he saw at the mountaintop is the better, greater, and more perfect union to which we must now, on this Mashujaa Day, dedicate ourselves anew.”

Ruto hailed the late Premier as “a foremost preacher of national unity,” adding that Raila constantly reminded Kenyans that the nation’s strength lay not in tribe or region but in

the shared identity of being Kenyan.

“If we, the people he so deeply loved and served, choose to live by the lessons he taught us, to love Kenya more than we love ourselves then we can become a great nation of 50

million heroes,” he said.

The day’s chief guest, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, and Mozambique’s Prime Minister Maria Benvinda Levy also paid glowing tributes.

“With his passing, Kenya and Africa have lost a true nationalist whose voice will continue to resonate in the struggle for a more just and democratic society,” Prime Minister Levy

noted.