A three-member team has been appointed to probe the barbaric burial of James Oyugi, a Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) staff who died of coronavirus on April 10th.
Speaking on Monday, Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga said the team has been tasked to investigate who issued orders for Oyugi’s burial against the family’s wishes.
Governor Rasanga further noted that the burial was done without the approval of a committee appointed by the Siaya county government to handle Covid-19-related matters, adding that disciplinary action will be taken against those involved.
He, at the same time, promised to help the family accord Oyugi a decent burial once they are out of quarantine.
Oyugi was taken ill after traveling to Siaya from Mombasa last week and died while receiving treatment at a local private hospital. Samples taken from his dead body showed he was suffering from Covid-19.
His body was disinfected the same day and then buried at around 2:30 am on Saturday.
A video shared online on Sunday showed three officers in protective gear removing his body, which had been put in a body bag, from a truck and throwing it in a shallow grave.
People believed to be his family members are heard wailing in the background. The video sparked public anger with online users terming the burial as inhuman.
Law Society of Kenya president Nelson Havi tweeted: “I am shocked by the mistreatment of loved ones of and the deceased Siaya County resident claimed to have died of Covid-19 and buried in a shallow grave. Enforcement of the evidently irrational burial Rules is stigmatizing. They should be declared repugnant and unconstitutional.”
Gerald Ngao wrote: “I have watched that burial at Siaya with a broken heart ? ?. I’ll never forgive China. That burial is so heartbreaking. It’s so inhuman and disrespectful to a tribe’s culture. The ancestors are angry with that.”
Lion Muigai said: “The burial of James Oyugi in Siaya is very traumatizing to the family and friends! Why would someone be buried in such away at night?? Hadi inaogopesha! That was discrimination of the highest degree!! My beloved Health CS Mutahi Kagwe kazi haitafanywa hivo!!”
Lawyer Miguna Miguna noted: “The “mass graves” in New York are only for UNCLAIMED bodies: Those who have no family members or relatives to bury them. Even those are humanely placed in coffins and buried. What you did in Siaya is ABOMINABLE. You treated OYUGI like a wild dog. Shame on you.”
Siaya Senator James Orengo tweeted: “COVID-19 has struck Siaya like a meteor. Witnessed an undignified burial in the dead of night as surreal as mass graves in NY & military funeral convoys in Lombardy. We’re confronted with unprecedented challenges. Let’s not forget our humanity even in the midst of tragedy. Pole jodala.
This is inhuman and wrong. …
This is inhuman and wrong. Why bury him at night in a shallow grave? They need to exhume him and bury him properly.