Gatundu South MP Gabriel Kagombe says former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati deserves a sendoff befitting his service to the nation. Gatundu South MP Gabriel Kagombe wants former IEBC chairman the late Wafula Chebukati accorded state funeral and honours. The lawmaker observed that Chebukati’s assertiveness saved the country from a precipice to violence after the 2022 presidential election. Why Wafula Chebukati should be accorded state funeral According to the MP, Kenya was diving into a political abyss due to the election results standoff when Chebukati braved all the supposed machinations of the state to salvage the country by quickly declaring President Willian Ruto as the election winner.
. He said that had Chebukati toed the line of the incumbent regime, Kenya would have plunged into chaos akin to the deadly 2007 post-election violence. Out of such supposed bravery, Chebukati deserves to be on the list of the few Kenyans to have ever been accorded state funerals, the MP said. “We will remember Chebukati for being a firm and decisive electoral chief who did not yield to intimidation during his tenure. In 2022, he made sure he had delivered what rightfully belonged to Kenya. In 2022, we were on the brink of another political crisis as the country was divided, but Chebukati came in to salvage the country. What happened in 2007 might have been repeated were it not for Chebukati’s firmness. He is a hero deserving honours and I believe the country will accord him a sendoff befitting his status as a prominent Kenyan,” Kagombe said. Chebukati died on late evening, Thursday, February 20, at a Nairobi hospital.
His family called on Kenyans to allow them privacy and peace as they come to terms with the loss of their kin. It also asked the public to desist from speculating about the death. Speaking to the press, family spokesperson Eric Nyongesa revealed the family would meet to decide whether to undertake a postmortem after which the cause of death could be disclosed. When can a state funeral be held in Kenya? In Kenya, state funerals are held in honour of fallen sitting or retired heads of state, and eminent people of national import ranging from academicians, clergymen and women, environmentalists doctors, researchers, clergy, artisans, and even legendary musicians who have died from natural causes.
A state funeral is undertaken in public and a holiday is sanctioned by the government in honour of the departed. The ceremony is often characterised by religious and military protocol precision. Kenya has had only eight individuals being accorded state funerals and honours. The first was founding president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta in 1978, onetime vice president Kijana Wamalwa in 2003, renowned environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai in 2011, onetime first lady Lucy Kibaki in 2016, second president Daniel Moi in 2020, third president Mwai Kibaki in 2022, Field Marshal Mukami Kimathi in 2023 and former Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Francis Ogolla. Mukami was the wife of Dedan Kimathi, a leader in the MauMau uprising in the 1950s.
by Kai Eli
