- Kakamega senator Boni Khalwale made a dramatic cultural statement at Cyrus Jirongo’s funeral in Lumakanda
- Dressed in traditional regalia and flanked by Isukuti drummers, he marched in with a spear and torch, captivating mourners with his show and ritual pronouncements
- His display ended with him gifting a bull to Jirongo’s family, symbolising mourning and solidarity with the bereaved
Kakamega senator Boni Khalwale, on Monday, December 29, staged a spectacle in Lumakanda, Lugari, where the body of former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo was taken for burial.
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The body arrived for the final rites after the wakes in Nairobi and Kitale, where the deceased had homes.
Perhaps in appreciating the weight of Jirongo’s funeral, given his stature, Khalwale made a statement at the deceased’s home.
The lawmaker, wearing traditional attire bearing leopard skin-like spots, arrived with an entourage livened up by a group of passionate Isukuti drummers and dancers who sang dirges as they made their way into the home.
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Their dramatic arrival stole the show as other mourners paused to watch, with others joining in the procession.
Khalwale, armed with a spear and torch, made his way to the funeral tent housing the body. He was in the company of his male followers, holding shafts and clubs.
He would be seen making passionate Luhya pronouncements while illuminating the body.
His company, brandishing clubs, amplified his pronouncements with responses in the affirmative.
Khalwale declared imprecations to those who might have had a hand in the tragic death of Jirongo.
The senator would later hand over a bull to the bereaved family as a gesture of mourning and a showcase of solidarity with them.
Meanwhile, the Luhya elders insist the late Jirongo ought to be buried with all the cultural rituals observed, arguing that his death can’t be dismissed like any other one.
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The former Lugari MP perished in a nasty road crash on December 13 after his vehicle was crushed by a speeding Climax bus in Karai, along the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway.
His death sparked speculation, with those close to him alleging the death was plotted.
Cultural rituals pushed by Luhya elders in Jirongo’s send-off
Even as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) continue its probe into the circumstances of the accident, the question of cultural practices has taken over the deceased politician’s send-off.
Luhya elders insist that Jirongo must be buried with an illuminated torch and four porcupine quills inside the coffin.
According to them, the torch will signify the haunting of those who might have schemed against Jirongo, and its going off will signify the conspirators are equally finished.
“The torch has a great significance. We will use batteries that will light the torch, and when it goes off, it will mean those involved in the death will be fading. And not only will we use the torch, but also the quills from the porcupine. They will be placed at all four corners of the grave to surveil those who were involved,” Harun Opanda, a Wanga elder, said in an interview with NTV.
Besides troubling the supposed conspirators, the ritual will expose them.
Amos Wawire, an elder from the Bunyala community in Kakamega’s Navakholo area, said the conspirators will not put up with the effects of the rituals, and that they will start coming out one after another to confess.
He revealed that for the torch ritual to work, it is reinforced by an ancient substance.
“If someone killed him, we will bury him with the torch; we will then fortify it with a special ancient medicine. We will pronounce it seven times, and the medicine will trace those involved. Shortly after, we will see them dying, and then they will come out to confess,” said Wawire.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
