Memes, myth, memory: How Kenya mourned Raila Odinga with humour

When news broke of Raila Odinga’s passing, Kenya did not respond with the solemn silence often associated with national grief. Instead, the country turned to its most familiar form of collective expression, humour.

In a show of unity and creativity, Kenyans transformed their pain into laughter, their mourning into memes, and their tributes into viral trends.

Across digital platforms, grief went viral. On TikTok, X, Facebook, and WhatsApp, Kenyans found a unique way to celebrate the life of a man whose name had long defined their political and cultural imagination. The timelines filled with laughter, music, and memory.

Grief with a grin

Through memes, remixed videos, and witty posts, Kenyans found comfort in humour, proving once again that even in sorrow, they remain resilient storytellers.

The late Raila Odinga once cracked jokes about his suggery.#RIPRailaOdinga pic.twitter.com/XLgO4DXO90

— Sudhir Byaruhanga (@Sudhirntv) October 16, 2025

TikTokers reimagined Raila’s famous dance moves, DJs looped his rally speeches over reggae beats, and influencers penned tributes laced with satire and affection.

“We laugh because it hurts too much to cry, and we remix because we refuse to let silence have the last word,” said Patrick Mwangi, a TikTok creator who produced a viral tribute montage. “In the middle of uncertainty, Kenyans turned mourning into a digital block party.”

From boda riders forwarding memes “for healing” to matatu DJs chuckling over viral clips, humour became Kenya’s shared therapy.

“Even when Baba joked on stage, he taught us that laughter doesn’t erase the struggle, it lightens it,” said Steve Mithiya, a Kenyatta University student.

Raila's light moments. He had a great sense of humour.
Rest in peace Baba.
pic.twitter.com/4ZEdAiUixE

— Ogega (@martin__ogega) October 17, 2025

One widely shared post on X read: “Only Baba can trend while resting, rallying, and resurrecting at the same time.”

Another, joked: “Heaven just declared a public holiday.”

The tributes were not disrespectful; they reflected a people processing loss through laughter — a coping mechanism deeply rooted in Kenyan culture.

Digital celebration of life

For many, Raila Odinga was more than a politician, he was a cultural icon whose charisma, humour, and theatrical flair shaped the nation’s public life for decades. His rallies were as much performance as they were politics. From his signature vitendawili riddles to his playful jibes at rivals, Raila turned political communication into an art form.

“He was a political showman,” said veteran cartoonist Paul Kelemba, popularly known as Maddo. “Baba was theatre. We cartoonists just followed his script.”

Raila Odinga was a funny Character??
Immortalizing Tinga. pic.twitter.com/E7FzPC6bPw

— MOVE WITH DAVID (@Davido_Lubi) October 18, 2025

In the days following his death, cartoonists across the country paid tribute with illustrations depicting microphones, riddles, and dancing shoes, not coffins. Their message was clear: some figures are too large for grief alone; they deserve applause.

On TikTok, clips of Raila’s campaign dances were slowed down, edited with sombre instrumentals, and overlaid with messages of remembrance. In WhatsApp groups, videos, jokes, and prayers blended seamlessly — a perfect reflection of Kenya’s culture of balancing humour with heartbreak.

Laughter as legacy

Political satire in Kenya has long served as both mirror and medicine, offering citizens a safe space to confront pain through parody. From the Redykyulass troupe of the Moi era to Churchill Live and The XYZ Show, humour has provided a channel for reflection, resilience, and release.

Raila Odinga embodied that spirit. His wit, timing, and knack for showmanship inspired generations of comedians, content creators, and meme-makers. His famous line — “Nobody can stop reggae” — became a cultural slogan, re-emerging this week as the soundtrack to countless TikTok remixes.

Even those who never met him felt his digital presence. “My daughter only knew him from memes,” said a father from Ngong. “When she saw people crying, she asked, ‘So Baba was real?’ That’s how deeply digital his legacy had become.”

Screens as the new fireside

Scrolling through the flood of memes and videos, one thing became clear, Kenya’s digital grief was an evolution of its storytelling tradition. Where past generations mourned through song and oral poetry, the new generation does it through memes and hashtags.

“We don’t do funerals, we do festivals,” one Facebook post from a Kisumu group read. Another TikTok comment simply said, “My mum just posted a candle and a dancing GIF. That’s Kenya.”

The humour never trivialised the loss; it humanised it. In laughter, Kenyans found a way to connect, to comfort, and to remember.

Digital farewell

As night fell on the third day of trending hashtags, the timelines began to quieten. Memes gave way to prayers, GIFs to candles. Behind every shared post lay a collective understanding, that this was not just mourning, but memory-making.

“He turned politics into performance, and we turned his memory into art,” read a viral comment.

By then, #RailaOdinga had trended for more than 72 hours across East Africa. Over 300,000 TikTok videos had been created using clips of his speeches and dances. The most shared image was a looping GIF of Raila dancing to gospel beats, captioned: “Kenya doesn’t need therapy. Kenya just needs WiFi.”

Raila's final laugh

Perhaps this is how Kenyans will remember Raila Odinga, not only as a freedom fighter and statesman but as a man whose humour inspired a nation to keep smiling through struggle.

Because in Kenya, even in mourning, laughter remains a language of love.

And as one viral post summed it up: “You can’t stop reggae. You can’t stop resilience.”