This archive report was first published on 10 August 2019.
On August 7, 2019, the Homa Bay county assembly in Kenya was forced to temporarily suspend its proceedings due to a rather unusual reason – a fart.
According to reports, the assembly's presiding speaker, Edwin Kakach, ordered the proceedings to be suspended for about ten minutes after one of the county members let out a pungent smell during debate.
“Honourable Speaker, one of us has polluted the air and I know who it is. I am not the one. I cannot do such a thing in front of my colleagues. We cannot continue sitting in an environment that smells bad,”
one of the members was quoted as saying.
Mr Kakach then ordered the assembly’s sergeants to quickly bring in air fresheners to ease the smell.
“Let the sergeant spray the air with fresheners to make it pleasant. Get whatever flavor you will find in any office, whether it’s vanilla or strawberry. We cannot continue sitting in an environment that smells bad,”
Mr Kakach ordered.
The incident was soon picked up by international news outlets, with many of them reporting on the unusual reason for the suspension of proceedings.
