Celebrated ohangla musician Bernard Onyango popularly known as Abenny Jachiga was buried on Saturday morning at 2.30am under tight security.
On Friday evening, thousands of mourners pelted police with stones and managed to stop the burial of the singer.
After removing the casket from the grave just before the police could cover it, they walked with the body around the village before taking it to the nearest hospital, St Elizabeth Chiga Missionary Hospital.
Following a long day of high drama and battles with the police, officers removed the body from the facility’s morgue at around 1.41 am on Saturday.
Only his younger brother Austin Omondi, who the police called to identify the body at the morgue, was allowed to stand by the graveside at that time.
Family meeting
According to the musician’s sister in law, Lillian Okello, they were having some family meeting in the night when they heard the sound of a police vehicle roaring towards the compound at about 1.51 am.
“The casket was carried in one Land Cruiser with armed police officers. They ordered everyone to stay indoors despite many of us willing to pay our last respects to our loved one,” said Mrs Okello.
The dusk to dawn curfew made it possible for the officers to carry out the night burial.
A source from the police said that the officers who had been on duty were released to go and rest as some reported injuries from the encounter with the angry mourners.
He also pointed out that retreat by the officers when they were engaged was tactical.
According to Mr Omondi, his younger brother, the musician left Kisumu to Nairobi on Wednesday, June 3 and went to Nairobi but fell ill two days later.
On Saturday, June 6, he sneaked back to Kisumu for treatment and according to medical reports seen by the Nairobi News, the artiste was diagnosed with Pneumonia and chickenpox.
When Abenny checked in at the facility on June 9, he was complaining of severe chest pains, difficulty in breathing, was vomiting blood and had severe abdominal pains and rashes on the face and chest.
The hospital also reported that the musician, who was restless, sick-looking and had weak extremities, was also passing bloody stool.
Chest x-ray
He was referred to Aga Khan Hospital for chest x-ray and further management.
When he reached Aga Khan, he was placed on a bed and he complained of chest pains requesting his friends to spread a Maasai kanga over him as they massaged his back.
“He was seriously sick and he kept on complaining about stomach pains. He also had boils all over his body and I suspected it was chickenpox,” said Mr Omondi.
He told Nairobi News that at Aga Khan Hospital Kisumu he was treated for a pneumonia-related case and later discharged after his condition improved.
A doctor has been treating him at home since then.
However, his situation worsened and he was rushed to St Elizabeth Hospital in Chiga, before being transferred to St Jairus Hospital on Thursday at around 6pm where he died at around 2 am on Thursday.
“Few minutes before he died he complained of severe pains and started vomiting blood,” said Mr Omondi.
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