A brother of Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula and Westlands MP Timothy Wanyonyi was on Wednesday buried under strict Covid-19 rules in Mukhweya, Bungoma county.
Antony Waswa, 48, died at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi on Saturday. He was the personal assistant to his brother MP Wanyonyi.
The body was received by the county public health officer together with his officials who hurriedly laid it to rest.
After burial all the protective gears they had put on were burned.
The burial was contrary to Luhya tradition of eating, viewing the body and mourning.
Hundreds of residents who had planned to attend the funeral were kept off by the security team that allowed only 60 to attend the burial.
Among those who attended the burial were Bungoma Woman Rep Catherine Wambilianga, Sirisia MP John Waluke, and Bungoma Deputy Governor Charles Ngome. Kwanza MP Ferdinand Wanyonyi and Trans Nzoia Woman Rep Janet Nangabo were among the leaders and family members present.
Politics was kept off the funeral that lasted only one hour.
The body was buried immediately it arrived from Nairobi aboard a chopper.
Wetangu'la thanked President Uhuru Kenyatta for donating the chopper.
The Ford Kenya party leader asked residents to adhere to government directives on the coronavirus pandemic, saying Covid-19 was real and not a joke.
"We are humbly requesting our people especially here in Bungoma that is a border county to ensure they put on masks, sanitise and adhere to the one-metre social distancing directive since this pandemic can only be contained by prevention," he said.
Wetang'ula said that no one knew when the disease would end.
The senator asked residents who live along the Northern Corridor highway to be wary of the truck drivers because some had tested positive for the virus.
Edited by Henry Makori
