KISUMU, Kenya June 13 – Popular Ohangla musician Abenny Jachinga was finally buried on Friday night, after an earlier burial aborted following chaotic scenes by locals who accused local authorities of forcing them to hurry the interment.
The family has accused authorities of forcing them to bury their kin within 48 hours, yet he did not die of COVID-19. They said he died of pneumonia.
More than 1000 mourners who had gathered for the burial on Friday were teargassed by police after youths pelted officers with stones.
The officers had been deployed to ensure security at the burial, which was resisted by elders and the family who wanted him interred next week, even as the government insisted he must be buried within 48 hours.
In the ensuing melee, youths managed to grab the body from the burial site and marched with it back to mortuary.
Heavily armed police officers were later deployed to the village long after the protests.
Austin Omondi, a brother to the deceased, told journalists that officers knocked his house at 1 am and ordered him to accompany them to the mortuary to identify the body which was then taken back and buried at 2am.
The family is accused the county government of Kisumu of hurrying the burial of the musician “without justification”.
They said locals who had lost their kin had not been forced to bury their kin within 48 hours, with others still having bodies in the mortuary.
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