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Anyona is Finally Buried
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 23:52
The former Kitutu Masaba MP and one-time dissident politician went as he had lived, surrounded by tension and disputes among his close relatives and detractors.
Because of a long-standing disagreement betwen his widow, Esther Mokeira, and his brother, Mr Stephenson Mageto, she and her children were the only close family members in the funeral procession that wound its way from a private mortuary in Kisii to the family's home in Tombe.
Mr Anyona's other close relatives, led by Mr Mageto who was at the centre of a financial controversy that delayed the burial for 217 days, were conspicuously absent.
Mr Mageto, a member of the Electoral Commission of Kenya, had stopped the burial through a court injunction until Sh2.3 million Mr Anyona helped to raise for Chabumba Women's Group was accounted for.
There was tension at the mortuary when students from various universities turned rowdy after being denied a chance to view Mr Anyona's remains.
Reacting in rage, the students smashed the mortuary's window. Mr Anyona's son, Kwameh, pleaded with them to stop further damages.
At 10.25am, a convoy of 24 vehicles, which included buses with wailing students atop, snaked through the streets of Kisii town, attracting huge crowds.
Hundreds of Kisii and Nyamira residents lined the Kisii-Tombe road to have a glance of the Umash Funeral Home's hearse, which carried Anyona's remains.
The body arrived at Tombe Primary School at 11.10am to a rumptuous reception by about 5,000 people who immediately queued to view the body as security officers struggled to maintain order.
Ironically, the school, about 10 kilomentres from Mr Anyona's Gatuta home, was the venue of the fund-raiser that raised the controversial Sh2.3 million. The event was hosted by Mr Anyona and attended by several Kisii leaders, including Ford People leader Simon Nyachae.
It was the controversy over the whereabouts of the same money that was to delay Mr Anyona's burial for seven months.
But by 11.30am, area MP Mwancha Okioma and Local Government Permanent Secretary Zachary Ogongo arrived at the funeral.
South Mugirango MP James Magara and his West Mugirango counterpart Henry Obwocha are out of the country on official business. However, it could not be established whether other Kisii leaders would attend the funeral.
Chaos nearly broke at Tombe when some Kenyatta University students who were wieleding beer bottles and chanting dirges, confronted Administration policemen at the venue.
A student claimed that he had been roughed up by a policeman who allegedly snatched his mobile phone.
As calm returned, the masters of ceremonies, former area MP Abuya Abuya and Mr Chris Matoke, a former Kenya National Union of Teachers Kisii Knut branch secretary, took charge of the event.
As the viewing went on at Tombe Primary school, grave diggers, hired and supervised by area assistant chief Shadrack Obwocha, put finishing touches on Mr Anyona's final resting place.
Mr Obwocha hired the diggers after close family members boycotted the burial.
Student leaders from various public universities paid tribute to Mr Anyona and accused the Government of not assisting his family as it did to former Vice-President Michael Wamalwa and State minister Geoffrey Parpai.
Kenya Social Congress officials, who included acting chairman Mathews Ondeyo, acting secretary general James Otuke and publicity secretary John Nyakundi likened Mr Anyona to Mr Tom Mboya and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
They asked the Government to move swiftly and arrest those who withdrew Sh2.3 million.
Mr Kwame Anyona said: " My father was not a grabber, had no ambitions to richness and was ever contented with the little he had.
"From the time my father died, as a family, we were sure he had nothing to do with the missing money."
The younger Anyona added that his family was ready to forgive and reconcile with those who had punished his father both in life and death.
"We would like to reconcile with those who might have punished our father and subjected us to seven agonising months as we waited for his burial.
Mr Kwame then paraded his mother, a brother, Ombega and three sisters - Diana, Winnie and Nyanduko.Meanwhile, Kisii politicians led by former Cabinet minister Sam Ongeri, criticised nine Kisii MPs for snubbing Mr Anyona's burial.Prof Ongeri, the senior most politician to attend the funeral, described Ford-P MPs from the area as a big let down to the Kisii community.
"Even if they had political differences with Hon Anyona, they should have brushed aside the differences and turned up to pay their last respect to their political colleague."Mr Okioma had difficult time addressing the mourners who demanded to know the whereabouts of other MPs.
He said he did not know why the other MPs had skipped the function.Mr Anyona's body was finally lowered into the grave at 4.10pm .
But controversy continued right into the grave following a stand-off over who should enter the tomb to make the body lie on its right side, according to the Abagusii customs. This ritual would have customarily been performed by Mr Anyona's brother or a grandson. All his brothers boycotted the burial and he had no grandson, prompting a distant cousin to do the job..
Local Seventh Day Adventist church officials shied away from the ceremony, forcing an elder at Nakuru's Heshima Church, Mr Charles Torori, to conduct the service.
And it was all over in a 20 minutes. The frail looking Mrs Anyona, threw a lump of soil into the grave to bid her husband goodbye. She then walked slowly from the gravesite and wondered onto the compound- relieved that her husband's remains had finally been laid to rest.
But the controversy that staked Anyona in death was far from over as his brothers had vowed to exhume his remains until the Sh2.3 million fiasco was resolved.
