This archive report was first published on 14 June 2020.
Published on June 14, 2020
Two popular musicians in western Kenya were laid to rest in starkly contrasting styles. Ohangla musician Abenny Jachiga was buried by strangers in the dead of night in Kisumu County, while popular twist musician John Nzenze received a decent sendoff in Vihiga County.
Abenny Jachiga's family was still reeling in shock after people believed to be police officers buried his body at dawn. Sources told Sunday Standard that a group of people, some armed with guns and accompanied by 'bouncers', stormed St Elizabeth Hospital mortuary in Kisumu and took away Jachiga's body. By 2.30am, as family members were asleep, they buried the body.
Some of Jachiga's relatives, including his widow Belinda Aluoch, lay prostrate on the grave to stop angry youth from exhuming the body and returning it to the mortuary. In contrast, John Nzenze's burial in Vihiga County was devoid of drama. The 80-year-old musician died about two weeks ago at the Mukumu Mission Hospital, where he had been hospitalized for a month battling hypertension and stomach ulcers.
Nzenze was best known for his Angelike Twist hit song released in the early 1960s. He was laid to rest in Kaptech village in Muhudu Ward of Hamisi sub-County. The burial programme started at about 7am and he was buried two hours later.
Abenny Jachiga's burial evoked memories of another night burial since measures on conducting burials came into force in the wake of Covid-19. In early May, James Oyugi, a Kenya Ports Authority employee, was buried at midnight at his home in Siaya County, after health officials said he had died of Covid-19. A case filed by his family demanding his exhumation is pending before a Siaya court.
Senior police officers in the region denied claims that police were involved in Jachiga's burial. 'I do not know the people who paraded as officers who went to collect the body from the morgue,' said Kisumu East OCPD Ezekiel Sing'oi.
