• Governor Rasanga said he regrets how the victim was given a barbaric send-off.
• The burial of the 59-year-old man in Kamalunga village was hurriedly done by hazmat suit-clad health officials on Sunday at 2 am.
Image: FILE
Siaya County Governor Cornel Rasanga has distanced himself from the night burial of a coronavirus victim.
Speaking during an interview in one of the local television station on Monday, Rasanga said that he regrets that the victim was given a barbaric send-off.
“I am very sorry to the Republic of Kenya that this thing occurred the way it occurred. It was indeed very barbaric,” Rasanga said.
His remarks come following the burial of the late KPA employee James Oyugi who is said to have died of the virus.
The viral video of his night burial elicited a debate on social media, where Kenyans expressed their displeasure in the way the victim’s body was disposed of.
The burial of the 59-year-old man in Kamalunga village was hurriedly done by hazmat suit-clad health officials on Sunday at 2 am.
According to the video, the family of the victim is heard from a distance wailing as Oyugi is hurriedly buried.
The guidelines from the Ministry of Health issued on March 13 indicates that the victim’s family should be informed of the burial and allowed to mourn.
Rasanga said that he will ensure that such kind of burial will not happen again in his county.
“I swear that it will not happen again under my watch here in this county,” Rasanga said.
The governor said he has formed a committee to probe the matter and he expects the report to reveal who allowed it to be carried out in that manner.
“We shall take actions against people who took the law into their hands, against people who misinterpreted the law,” the governor said.
He said that according to the Ministry of Health guidelines on the burial of the Covid-19 patient, it should be between 9 am-4 pm.
These are some of the guidelines to be observed before the burial of a Covid-19 victim.
- The arrival of the Body disposal team
- The staff should not be wearing PPE upon arrival.
- Greet the family and offer your condolences before unloading the necessary material from the vehicles. Request respectfully for a family representative.
- The communicator should liaise with the family representative for the final rite.
Siaya Senator James Orengo said the burial was undignified.
"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," Orengo posted on his Twitter handle.
On Sunday, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said the number of confirmed cases in the country now stands at 197, after six more people tested positive.
On a positive note, however, one more person was released from isolation after testing negative to Covid-19 after a series of tests.
The total number of people having recovered and discharged from the hospital is now 25.
Out of the six new positive cases, five are men while one is a woman. Five of them are Kenyan nationals while one is a foreign national.