Abenny Jachiga, popular Ohangla musician of ‘Mano Kasinde’ hit song, dies aged 33

Popular Ohangla musician Abenny Jachiga is dead.

Jachiga, whose real name is Bernard Obonyo, succumbed to pneumonia at 2am on Thursday, June 11 at St. Jairus Hospital in Kisumu, his close friend and Kisumu’s Kolwa East Ward MCA Steve Owiti has told K24 Digital.

The Mano Kasinde hit-maker was taken to the hospital in critical condition on Tuesday, June 9 after developing breathing complications at his home in Chiga, Kisumu East.

Prior to his hospitalisation at St. Jairus Hospital, which is located on the Kisumu-Busia Road, Jachiga, had a few days ago, been admitted at the Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu, where he was treated and discharged.

The musician is survived by a widow and two children (a son who is in Class Three, and a daughter who is in Class Four).

Jachiga has died aged 33.

His body was moved to the Port Florence Community Hospital morgue.

Abenny Jachiga is known for the Luo song Mano Kasinde which is a corrupted word borrowed from English language to mean “her cousin”. In the song, the artiste sings that a section of women nowadays often dupe men by claiming every man they are flirting with is their cousin. The music composition, which was uploaded to YouTube on May 30, 2018, has since garnered over 1.25 million views.

His other songs include: Penzi ni Kama Yai, Maraga Odagi, Nancy Nyar Ugenya, Ayaye, among others.

Abenny Jachiga’s name hit news headlines in April last year, when one of his dancers died after drowning in floods that had hit Kibra, Nairobi.

Vivian Nyathi Abandu died on April 23, 2019 while attempting to rescue her firstborn child, who had fallen into a sewage system; and was being swept away by the raging waters.

Abenny Jachiga, through his social media page, narrated how Vivian spent her last days.

“Vivian returned to Nairobi after featuring as a dancer in Abenny Jachiga’s line-up in Mombasa last Saturday. She spent Sunday night (April 21, 2019) dancing for Abenny Jachiga at Fine Breeze entertainment joint in Dagoretti. She got to her Kibra home on Monday (April 22, 2019) and rested that day, given she had worked for four consecutive days,” said Jachiga.

The mother-of-two had left her children under the care of her sister, who lives in the neighbourhood.

“After the rains on Tuesday (April 23, 2019), Vivian went to pick her children from her sister’s place. On her way back, she carried one child in her arm and held the hand of the other. Unfortunately, the elder child, whose hand was being held, slid and fell into a sewage system.  Vivian immediately handed over the baby she was carrying to a woman who was walking beside her, and, thereafter, embarked on rescuing the one who fell into the sewage system. It was at that point that she drowned. Her child also died in the process,” said Jachiga.

Vivian, who had separated from her husband, left behind her second-born child.

Her body and that of her child were taken to a Nairobi hospital mortuary.

(Additional reporting by Brian Okoth)