Fidel Odinga the most searched trend on Google

Fidel Odinga, the late son of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga emerged as the top trending search on Google by Kenyans in January 2015.

Fidel, 41, died under unclear circumstances last month. This, according to Google, drove Kenyans online to get more information about his life and probably the state of affairs surrounding his death, making him a top trending search.

Lwam Bekele, his wife, was also among the top trending searches.

The second and third trending searches were taken by the Football Association Challenge (FA) Cup and the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournaments respectively which were held last month. The searches by Kenyans mainly comprised of the different matches, their results and favourite footballers.

The thirtieth edition of the AFCON kicked off in January 17 at Equatorial Guinea and will end on February 8. It is expected to generate more online traffic.

Another tragedy in January was the death of renowned Nigerian actor, Muna Obiekwe, who lost his life due to kidney disease. Consequently, Kenyan Nollywood fans took to the internet to get news about the ordeal, pushing the deceased to the fourth position on Google's trending searches.

Mr Obiekwe was also the second most searched person on the site after Fidel.

The teacher’s strike, which made headlines for the better part of January, came in at number five. Kenyans were concerned about the stalemate that saw children stay at home for more than two weeks after schools opened in early 2015.

It was followed by Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French weekly magazine that drew a lot of controversy worldwide. Two gunmen, who were later said to be brothers, attacked the magazine offices in Paris and opened fire killing twelve people.

Gloria Muliro, a Kenyan musician was also featured prominently in the trending searches at position seven, after news of her broken marriage to Congolese preacher husband Eric Omba broke.

She was followed by Paul Kobia, a controversial businessman who was arrested after making alarming claims about the death of Fidel Odinga.

Chris Kyle, the late American Navy Seal sniper, who was killed in 2013 also made it to the list of January trending searches. Witnesses in a case against the alleged killer testified last month thus drawing a lot of media attention to the case.

Other highly searched individuals in Kenya on Google Search included: Njoki Chege (blogger), Raila Junior (Raila Odinga’s younger son) and Krystian Bielik (a seventeen year old Polish football midfielder who recently joined Arsenal).

Just as in 2014, January’s 'what is trending' searches were driven by students who were looking for specific information.