Besieged Kisii County officials now offer to foot Maiyoro's burial expenses

Kisii County Governor James Ongwae addresses the media at his offices on February 28, 2019 after he met with the family of the late track legend Nyandika Maiyoro. He offered to pay for the funeral expenses. PHOTO | BENSON AYIENDA |

What you need to know:

  • His burial is scheduled for March 8 at his home in Kiogoro, Nyaribari Chache while the body will leave mortuary the day before.
  • “The county government’s offices are situated just a few metres from the private hospital where Mzee Nyandika was admitted, but surprisingly no county official visited him while he was bedridden. Trying to support his family in his burial arrangement is being deceitful,” said a local resident Maureen Nyangenya, who echoed sentiments of a vast number of county residents.

After immense public outcry and having allegations of neglecting Nyandika Maiyoro while he was alive levelled against it, the Kisii County government has now pledged to cater for all the expenses that the family of the late athletics legend will incur during his funeral arrangements.

The pioneer Olympic hero passed away on Sunday. He did not receive any assistance from political leaders from the region. This led to accusations from locals that the devolved unit and government authorities in general had neglected him in his time of need.

On Thursday, Kisii county governor James Ongwae and his deputy Joash Maangi met with the family members and the committee overseeing the funeral arrangements at the county offices where the promise was made.

“As a county government we have agreed to join the family of Nyandika in this time they are mourning and we will support them both materially and financially,” said Ongwae.

Governor Ongwae refuted claims of negligence, instead arguing that his administration was determined to support legends in various sports from the region and said he previously gave out tokens of appreciation during public holidays.

Maiyoro's eldest son, Rodgers has disputed the claim that they have rejected the offer from the county government, saying that those are just people with ill-motive aimed at distracting the burial arrangements.

"We had a successful meeting with the county leadership and we are grateful that they have agreed to support us in giving Mzee a befitting send off," he told Nation Sport on Thursday.

On Monday, the county government had been met with anger by family members and residents as they attempted to convey their condolences after the track legend had passed on the previous night.

The locals accused the devolved unit of sitting on their hands for years as the legend battled illness and attempted grabbing of his close to seven hectares land in Nyamira County that he received from the country’s founding father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, as appreciation for putting Kenya on the sporting map worldwide.

His burial is scheduled for March 8 at his home in Kiogoro, Nyaribari Chache while the body will leave mortuary the day before.

“The county government’s offices are situated just a few metres from the private hospital where Mzee Nyandika was admitted, but surprisingly no county official visited him while he was bedridden. Trying to support his family in his burial arrangement is being deceitful,” said a local resident Maureen Nyangenya, who echoed sentiments of a vast number of county residents.

The county government has since promised to renovate his houses before the burial day and also provide chairs and tents for the huge crowd that is expected to attend.

“We have partnered with the national government in ensuring we give our hero who represented the country well during independence a decent send off,” said the county’s deputy governor Joash Maangi.

However, his family has appealed to the two levels of government to ensure his resources that had been grabbed among them his house at Gusii Stadium and a piece of land at a settlement scheme in Nyamira are restored before his burial.

“While in hospital bed, our father used to cry over his house that is beside Gusii Stadium which Mzee Jomo Kenyatta gave him but the county government has turned it into its offices and his land in Nyamira,” said his daughter Elector Kerubo.
According to her, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i had last week sent a team from the department of lands to survey the alleged grabbed seven hectares piece of land but they were yet to present their findings.
“As a family, we really appreciate the Interior CS for standing with us from the time our father was ailing in hospital by clearing the hospital bills and has promised for justice over the grabbed land,” she added.