The government has asked Kenyans who plan to attend the late President Mwai Kibaki's state funeral on Friday to be time conscious.
Interior CS Fred Matiang'i said all members of the public must be seated by 8 am before the arrival of the body at the Nyayo National Stadium.
"This is a ceremony that involves a lot of people and we don't want anyone to be inconvenienced," Matiang'i said.
He spoke on Wednesday after supervising preparations for the funeral service accompanied by members of the national funeral steering committee which he chairs.
The CS explained that a state funeral involves many rites that have to be observed especially considering that the funeral will be led by the disciplined forces who are strict on timekeeping.
"You know our military, they don't leave anything to chance," Matiang'i said.
He pointed out that other than the strict protocol that will be laid out by the Kenya Defence Forces, the only other protocol that will be allowed is that of the church that will conduct the funeral
The funeral steering committee said in a previous press brief that the national state funeral memorial service will be interdenominational and will be led by the Catholic Church.
While giving the update on Wednesday, Matiang'i said the late president's family has made some requests which they want to be respected during the state funeral.
Matiang'i did not, however, reveal the nature of the requests.
"We are all determined to give President Kibaki the best send-off," Matiang'i said.
The Interior CS further confirmed that all security measures have been put in place to ensure nothing goes wrong during the send-off ceremony.
"We don't anticipate that anything will go wrong," he said.
Kibaki's body lay in state at Parliament Buildings on Wednesday for the third and final day ahead of Friday's state funeral.
The former president will be buried at his rural home in Othaya, Nyeri County on Saturday, April 30.
