Family buries banana stem after two-year futile search for missing son
The family of Kennedy Were Wanga, who reportedly went missing on April 23, 2022, bury a banana stem after a futile two-year search for him in Akipeneti Village, Buteba Sub-county, Busia District on September 23, 2024. PHOTO/DAVID AWORI
What you need to know:
- The burial was presided over by men who claimed to be “Bishops” from Roho Afanuwe, a Pentecostal Church based in Western Kenya.
- Maureen Wanga, who is believed to have been with the missing brother, said on that fateful day, they had gone to buy chicken at Nambaale town when men driving a numberless car and brandishing pistols reportedly forced him into their car.
A family in Akipeneti Village, Buteba Sub-county, Busia District in Eastern Uganda, has performed a funeral for a banana stem after a fruitless search for their son who went missing two years ago.
Kennedy Were Wanga was on April 23, 2022, reportedly kidnapped in Nambaale, Busia-Kenya by gun-wielding men traveling in a numberless car while he had gone to check on his second wife. He has since never been seen alive, heard from or discovered dead.
Prior to his disappearance, Wanga was the Akipeneti Village Defense Secretary and was involved in the gold mining business.
His younger sister, Ms Maureen Wanga said after consultations with the area elders and church leaders, they resolved to bury a banana stem in the absence of the body of their missing brother who is presumed to be dead.
“We bought a nice suit in which we draped the banana stem, placed it in a coffin and are sure that his spirit will finally rest in peace,” she said on Monday.
She added that the family made the decision after unsuccessfully searching for Wanga in all Prisons and Police Stations in Kenya for two-and-a-half years.
Wanga’s mother, Jacklyn Apondi Wanga, 52, said before resorting such desperate measures, her son’s spirit had reportedly been haunting the family.
“His spirit has been knocking at the gate and crying out that it was suffering out in the cold and needed a decent burial; so, the stem and coffin carried the spirit and with the burial, my son has been accorded the decent resting place he has been calling out for,” she said.
As the coffin containing the banana stem was lowered into the grave, a somber mood engulfed the family as hundreds of grieving mourners gathered to pay their last respect.
Akipeneti Village LC1 chairman, Ibrahim Bokasa, said this was the first time he witnessed a banana stem being given a decent burial like a human body.
“The rituals started on Monday, the family and clergy cut a banana plant which they dressed in a nice suit and placed it in an expensive coffin which should have cost over Shs1 million,” Bokasa said.
Bokasa, who appointed Wanga to his committee, described him as a “hardworking man”, adding: “He was young, strong and when we went for night operations, he helped us arrest several criminals.”
Sources say months before Wanga disappeared, he got at least KShs100 million (about Shs3 billion) from his gold business and constructed a house in Akipeneti Village and another in Kenya.
Stephen Masiga, a 60-year-old resident of Akipeneti Village, said he, too, was “surprised” by the burial the banana stem was accorded, including collection of condolences from mourners and laying of wreaths on the coffin by close family members.
The burial was presided over by men who claimed to be “Bishops” from Roho Afanuwe, a Pentecostal Church based in Western Kenya.
During the burial, Emmanuel Wanga, a younger brother to missing Wanga, quoting a verse in the Bible, reminded those who might have killed his brother that they would “die by the same sword.”
Francis Tanga, an elder and resident of Mawero East ‘B’ Village, said Wanga’s incident evokes memories of what reportedly used to happen among the Luhya community some years back, when a dear one went missing without trace.
“My brother who was a soldier during the Idi Amin government disappeared without a trace and a stick had to be buried. As a family, we feared he was dead and decided to bury a stick like this family has done by burying a banana stem,” he said.
The kidnap
Maureen Wanga, who is believed to have been with the missing brother, said on that fateful day, they had gone to buy chicken at Nambaale town when men driving a numberless car and brandishing pistols reportedly forced him into their car.
She said her brother had refused to enter the car, while insisting to know who the occupants were and the reason for his kidnap, but one of his alleged kidnappers drew a pistol and threatened to shoot him dead if he continued to resist.
According to Wanga, the men drove towards Nambaale, Busia Road, and that would be the last time she ever saw her brother.
Apondi, the mother, said three days after her son went missing, two residents of Akipeneti Village, whom she identified as John Okedi and Francis Otibene, reportedly visited her, claiming to know the men who had taken her son hostage.
“Using one of the residents’ phone, I spoke to the kidnappers who immediately demanded for a KShs400,000 (about Shs12 million) ransom to free my son, but I sent KShs50,000 (about Shs1.5 million), and they promised to free him,” Apondi said.
However, she said the following day, the alleged kidnappers rang again, making fresh demands for more money and warning to kill their captive if more money was not sent immediately, prompting the family to send more money.
Apondi said this time round, the men allowed her to speak to her son who reportedly told her to quickly look for the money and pay lest he would be killed. Her son allegedly further stated that his captors had cut off one of his legs and were promising to kill him if more money wasn’t sent to them.
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At this point, Apondi said she raised the full ransom amount (Shs12 million) after selling part of the family land, cows, five motorcycles and goats, but to her surprise, her son’s alleged kidnappers stopped calling.
Earlier, however, she says the men had rung and told the family members to pick their missing son from Alupe, but it turned out to be a false location, prompting her to report the matter at Busia-Kenya Police Station, but tracking numbers the alleged kidnappers used became difficult.
“The investigating officers told us that the kidnappers had used numbers registered in the names of dead people,” Apondi further explained.
Lilian Nekesa, the wife of missing Wanga, says she now has to look after their two daughters. “Although the family has buried a banana stem, questions linger on who kidnapped my husband, what was the motive and where is his body if he was killed?” she said.
