For the past week, Lee funeral home, which has been playing host to the bodies of the dignitaries in this Country was engulfed with heightened activities following the constant movement of VVIPs, VIPs and families viewing the body of the late Prof. George Magoha.
Prof. Magoha (71) died at Nairobi hospital on January 24, at around 5:30 pm and was later moved to the Lee funeral home.
Magoha’s ancestral home in Siaya County turned out to be the busiest region after the body of the renowned scholar landed at the Yala Township Primary shortly after 2 pm Friday.
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Photos/By Eric Juma
The entourage escorting the body of the late CS snaked its way into St Mary’s Yala upon arrival at Yala Township Primary School Friday afternoon.
The students could not control themselves the moment the body arrived and it prompted the student choir to sing some gospel songs to control the situation before the principal, Victor Makanda who is only two weeks old at the institution pay homage to the fallen don.
The Friday lessons at the institution were disrupted as students gathered in groups in a gloomy mood.
Makanda remembered Magoha as a legend, hero and fallen soldier whom he will miss for years.
The board's vice chairperson Maxwell Ogonda, who served with him on the board for four years before he exited said that the deceased successfully spearheaded infrastructural development at the institution.
At St Mary’s Yala where Magoha ceased to be the Board Chairman in 2016, a banner with his portrait and the projects that were initiated through his support remained hung on the administration's wall.
Some of the development projects that the school remembered him for include cabro pavement, two state-of-the-art hostels (one named after him) and another named after former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Magoha also developed a 14-storey classroom building at the school.
Ogonda said that the building now makes the academic square complete.
"We shall miss him dearly and we hope that God will give us another board chairperson like Prof Magoha," Ogonda said.
Teachers, students from St Mary’s Yala, relatives, friends, Kenyans and people from all walks thronged the home of Magoha to welcome the body that was placed in the famous Benz used by high-profile persons.
The arrival of magoha’s caused a traffic snarl up the busy Kisumu Busia Road as wailing youths and elders rolled on the highway as they gave the departed academician his final respect.
The motorcyclists operating in Yala and its environs would be seen riding dangerously on the road as waling women and men carrying twigs escorts Magoha’s body home.
Businesses were brought to a standstill and shops remained closed for close to one hour because traders feared that thugs would take advantage of the situation to steal their items.
John Ongaro who sells electronics said he decided to close his shop to protect his items adding that in the past some of the youths who were hired as far as Kisumu to disrupt Ex-Governor Conel Rasanga’s function in Yala robbed him.
“I am a victim of the circumstances and had learnt from the past incident so today have closed the shop to stand in solidarity with the magoha family but also to protect my goodies,” Ongaro said.
At the home of Magoha, mourners were moving freely as opposed to the past two weeks when accessing the gate was restricted following the orders from above.
According to the family, Magoha will be laid to rest on Saturday, February 11, 2023, at his home in Yala, Siaya county.
The burial will be preceded by a funeral mass at Odera Akang’o University College.
On Thursday, a requiem mass for Magoha was held at the Consolate Shrine in Westlands from at 9 am.
Family, friends and colleagues paid glowing tributes to the late professor of surgery.
