Migori leaders caught up in funeral chaos

Nyatike MP Tom Odege (left) grabs a microphone from Elisha Odhiambo at a burial in Nyatike on Friday. [Caleb Kingwara]

Scores of people were injured in a stampede after chaos broke out at a funeral in Nyatike at the weekend, in the presence of area MP Tom Odege and Governor Okoth Obado.

Speeches were disrupted and bodyguards of several politicians present cocked their guns after a group of youth armed with crude weapons stormed the burial of high school principal Joseph Ayogo Onditi on Friday afternoon.

Mr Obado and Mr Odege and other leaders at the funeral, who included Migori County Assembly Speaker Boaz Okoth, former Migori MP John Pesa and County Secretary Christopher Rusana, were caught off-guard by the youths who attacked a section of the mourners.

Chaos started when Odege rose to address the mourners, and the youths started heckling him, leading to a bitter exchange of words.

Obado and Odege criticised a clique of politicians whom they accused of hiring goons to cause trouble at the event.

“I want to ask our people to deal with leaders who thrive in hiring goons to disrupt public functions as a way of getting noticed. Such people should never be elected to any positions,” said the Migori governor.