The crowd of mourners at Lumakanda Township Primary School in Lugari Constituency, Kakamega County, erupted in cheers and applause upon the arrival of former President Uhuru Kenyatta to pay his last respects to the late former Cabinet Minister Cyrus Jirongo.
On Tuesday, December 30, the burial ceremony was momentarily disrupted when the former Head of State made his entrance during the preaching session, forcing the pastor to appeal for calm as excited mourners abandoned their seats to catch a glimpse of the retired president.
In a video, the pastor can be heard pleading with the crowd to return to their seats and maintain silence so that the service could continue, highlighting the magnitude of Uhuru's presence at the solemn occasion.
The burial service attracted a host of high-profile political leaders who gathered to bid farewell to the former Lugari MP and political heavyweight. Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetangula, who was among the attendees, confirmed his presence on social media.
"This morning, I have joined mourners at Lumakanda Township Primary School in Lugari Constituency, Kakamega County, for the final journey of former Cabinet Minister, Hon. Cyrus Jirongo," Wetangula posted.
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Other prominent leaders present included Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives Wycliffe Oparanya, Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa, Members of Parliament, Members of County Assembly, and senior national and county government officials.
Jirongo passed away on Saturday, December 13, following a tragic road accident along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway in the early hours of the morning.
A postmortem examination conducted on his remains revealed that the former legislator succumbed to blunt force trauma. Family pathologist Dr. Joseph Ndung'u, who spoke on Wednesday, December 17, disclosed that Jirongo sustained catastrophic injuries to multiple parts of his body.
"As a result of our examination, we formed an opinion that the late Cyrus Jirongo died as a result of a crush injury to the chest, abdomen, and also a spinal injury due to blunt force trauma," Dr. Ndung'u stated.
The pathologist further revealed that Jirongo's body bore multiple fractures on the right hand and both legs, accompanied by severe chest trauma, including broken ribs, a perforated heart, and ruptured blood vessels. Additionally, there was damage to the spinal cord at the thoracic level.
