Businessman Oketch Salah has publicly responded to remarks by Kisumu County Woman Representative Ruth Odinga, who said she barely knows him and has only met him three times.
The rebuttal follows an interview aired on KTN News, in which Ruth dismissed suggestions that Salah has close personal links with the Odinga family and urged him to stop speaking on matters related to the family and party.
“I really don’t know him that well. In my whole life, I have met Salah three times,” Ruth said during the interview, adding that she did not wish to engage in any further discussions about him.
She also questioned Salah’s claims of closeness to her family, particularly in reference to the final days of her late brother, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
According to Ruth, when she travelled to India to be with her brother during his final days, she did not encounter Salah.
“By the time I got to India, I never saw him. I’m the one who was with my brother when he passed away. So I came when he had already left,” she said, raising doubts about Salah’s presence at the time.
However, in a statement issued on Thursday, Salah strongly refuted her remarks, saying he had never attempted to force himself into Ruth’s life or seek her attention.
“Let me be clear from the outset: if you do not wish to associate with me, that is entirely your choice. I have never forced myself into your life, and I have never sought your attention,” Salah said.
He maintained that his relationship was solely with the late former Prime Minister and not with other members of the Odinga family.
“My relationship was with your late brother, Baba, and that relationship stood on its own. It had nothing to do with any other member of the family,” he stated.
Salah further addressed Ruth’s claims about his absence in India, revealing that he played a key role in facilitating her travel to join Raila during his treatment abroad.
“For the record, I am the one who convinced Baba to have you join us in India, after Jeff Oyier called him several times, saying that you wanted to come. I am also the one who arranged your business class ticket on Emirates,” Salah said.
He explained that his early return to Kenya had been at the direct request of Raila, who allegedly asked him to travel back and finalise arrangements for his son’s wedding, which had reportedly been postponed several times due to his illness.
“The only reason I returned earlier was because Baba personally asked me to go back to Kenya to conclude my son’s wedding. I was supposed to meet Baba again in Dubai on Thursday, after his arrival from Kerala,” he disclosed.
Salah added that the meeting in Dubai never happened because Raila passed away before their planned reunion.
In his statement, the businessman also weighed into internal party and family tensions, urging Ruth to stop publicly clashing with her elder brother, Oburu Odinga, who currently serves as a senior leader within the Orange Democratic Movement.
“I also say this with respect: you should stop fighting your elder brother, who is the current party leader. Oburu did not simply assume a position; he carries a responsibility, and Baba entrusted me, in good faith, to work with him,” Salah said.
He warned that internal divisions could weaken the family’s political standing, adding that leadership disputes should be handled with caution.
At the same time, Salah insisted that he spent significant time with Raila during his final days and would not allow that narrative to be distorted.
“Finally, I say this with a heavy heart: I am the one who spent most of Baba’s final moments with him. Those moments were real, painful and deeply personal. I will not allow that truth to be erased or turned into political theatre,” he said.
Ruth, however, maintained that the party’s top decision-making organ had already resolved that Salah is not a member and should not speak on its behalf.
“In the party, we also agreed in the NEC that Oketch Salah is not supposed to be allowed to talk on behalf of the party because he is not a party member,” she said.
She further appealed to Salah to respect the family’s privacy and stop associating himself with the Odingas.
“If he was my brother’s friend or adopted son, as he claims, I would like to ask him to please give us space as a family to be a family,” Ruth added.
The public exchange was further fuelled by comments from Raila’s former aide, Dennis Onyango, who defended Salah’s presence around the former Prime Minister.
Speaking a day earlier, Onyango said that everyone who worked closely with Raila knew Salah and interacted with him regularly.
“Everyone who worked around Raila knows Oketch Salah. I met him, travelled with him, and he was Raila’s friend,” Onyango said.
He revealed that on Raila’s final day in Kenya before departing for India, Salah was present at Raila’s home in Karen and later travelled with him.
“On the final day when Raila was leaving for India, we were with Oketch Salah at Raila’s home in Karen. He brought a phone and they left. While in India, I spoke to Raila directly on his phone and also through Salah’s phone,” Onyango stated.
The clash between Salah and Ruth has now opened a wider debate within political circles over access to the late former Prime minister, party authority, and who legitimately speaks on matters related to his final days.
