This archive report was first published on 21 May 2020.
On May 21, 2020, a somber mood engulfed Mukhweya village in Bungoma county as Antony Waswa, the younger brother of Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula and Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi, was laid to rest in a hurried burial ceremony.
Waswa, 48, had been the personal assistant to Wanyonyi and had been admitted to the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi for a week before his death. Only 60 people were allowed into the compound in his Mukhweya village home, with seats placed 2.5 metres apart, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Senator Wetang'ula and Wanyonyi received the body, which arrived at 11.23am, and the casket was lowered straight into the grave. The chopper was also fumigated before it lifted off.
However, about 10 senators who were meant to accompany the body did not travel to Bungoma as their helicopter was denied clearance by the government to take off from Wilson Airport.
Wanyonyi denied that Waswa died from COVID-19 related illness, and the family opted not to carry out a postmortem examination, burying him in line with the government's directive to bury the dead within 48 hours.
Wetang'ula said he learnt of his brother's ailment while at the burial of Tecla Karanja, the daughter of Keroche Breweries CEO Tabitha Karanja in Naivasha, and praised Waswa as an icon who would be hard to replace.
