• Oyugi’s colleagues are demanding action from the KPA while the union has engaged the services of a lawyer.
• However, the DWU secretary general Simon Sang played down a go-slow saying he is handling matters diplomatically first.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
The hurried and undignified burial in the wee hours of Sunday morning of a KPA employee suspected to have succumbed to Covid-19 has raised a storm at the Mombasa Port.
There are fears this storm might lead to a go-slow, which might further derail operations at the port.
Already, the authority has had to make do with a reduced workforce due to the coronavirus.
James Oyugi Anyango’s body was dumped into a shallow grave in his homestead at Kamalunga village in Ukwala location of Siaya county amid wailing from relatives who questioned the manner in which the body was being disposed of.
“Are you burying a human being or a dog?” a wailing woman is heard in a video that has gone viral sparking outrage across the country.
Oyugi’s body was interred at around 3 am, breaking all cultural norms of the Luo community.
On Monday, Dock Workers Union secretary general Simon Sang said the burial was a violation of Oyugi’s and his family’s human rights.
“We have already engaged a lawyer so that we can sue the Attorney General and the Siaya county government,” said Sang on phone.
He said the union and the lawyer are still getting details of the matter so as to come up with a concrete case against the people involved in the hasty burial.
However, Sang played down a go-slow saying he is handling matters diplomatically first.
Oyugi’s colleagues are demanding action from the KPA.
In one of the KPA staff’s workers WhatsApp group, Oyugi’s colleagues at the Terminal, where he worked, are calling for the post-mortem report, the burial permit and death certificate to be published.
“We must confirm or is this a cover-up? We must take this matter to the next level. We will not keep quiet or be cowered because tomorrow it could be you or me,” said one of the colleagues.
Another one said: “I grieve for my brother and I need answers. KPA must ask questions as to how our very own was disposed of in such a horrible manner.”
“I have asked the Head of Admin to explain to me the meaning of all these. KPA takes responsibility for its sick staff and even burials in the most dignified and respectful manner. We demand answers,” said another.
Commission for Human Rights and Justice executive director Julius Ogogoh said though there are measures taken to bury bodies of Covid-19 patients, a humane way of interment is the least one can do.
He said the sorry burial will cause untold and devastating psychological pain on Oyugi’s immediate family and the people of the Kamalunga village.
“Much as we appreciate and would endeavour to support Government’s directives on combating the spread of the virus, we detest the uncouth handling of the victims this pandemic,” he said.
BBC journalist Ferdinand Omondi said the burial itself, by the three mortuary attendants in white ghoulish hazmat suits, was unhealthy and unsafe, and humiliated Oyugi’s family.
“He was buried in the dead of night, unceremoniously, in a grave so shallow I wouldn't bury ordinary stale meat in because the smell would filter through in a matter of days,” said Omondi.
“People are dying all over the world due to Coronavirus. I have seen funeral services of 3 people: The priest, the dead, and one member of the family. Every last step of funeral rites has been stripped down to bare essentials.
“But the Siaya case is the first one I have seen, where even dignity was considered a luxury.
“I have not read anywhere that says strip the family of its dignity, bury the dead like carcasses, and in the dead of night like you would a busted witch,” he noted.
Tudor MCA Tobias Samba said he shed tears when he watched the video doing rounds on social media.
He said the rush to declare Oyugi died from Covid-19 despite having been involved in an accident at Awasi in Kisumu county on his way to his village is strange.
“What if his death was as a result of internal bleeding because I believe anyone who is involved in an accident can have difficulties in breathing, hence start coughing,” said Samba.
He said Oyugi’s, in any case, was not the first Covid-19 death in Kenya, yet no other body was buried in a disrespectful manner as his.
Sang, who is set to issue a comprehensive statement on Tuesday, said KPA must take some responsibility.
He said there are also issues that the authority’s management has not handled well amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“We are a big family and an essential service provider. We work because we have to not because we want to at this time. Yet there are certain things that the management is not enforcing which expose workers,” said Sang.
He said the clocking is still overcrowded.
The KPA has experienced at least four confirmed cases of Covid-19 and two deaths.
One of the cases is in the administration, one at the clinic and one at the terminal, according to Sang.
More than a dozen workers are in quarantine.