At Upanda Village in Siaya County, preparations for the funeral of Richard Ouma Opondo, his wife and their seven children is underway.
Just as you enter the compound through the main gate, the first thing that catches your attention is the absence of the house where Ouma, his wife Jacinta Anyango and seven children were burnt to death in the wee hours of April 21. The couple is survived by two children who were not at home at the time of the fire – one was with their maternal grandmother in Sidindi and the other, a college student, was in school in Nairobi.
The house was flattened, in accordance with the Luo culture.
Inside one of the small tents erected within the homestead there is a table and on top of the wooden table are framed photos of the family members who perished in the deadly inferno.
“This is the face of evil and this is what evil looks like,” a woman wails while covering her face with a kanga.
Behind the tent, an incomplete permanent house stands; the brick-walled house donning a new blue roof has replaced the demolished mud-walled hut and will now host the remains of Ouma and his family on their last night on earth.
Burial preparations are underway for fire victims in Upanda village, Sigomere, Siaya County, in this photo taken on May 7, 2025.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
Contrary to Luo traditions and culture, which requires that graves be dug behind the main house, a mass grave measuring 3 by 6 metres has already been prepared on the left hand side of the house, as you approach it, ahead of the burial slated for Friday.
Leonard Ochieng, Ouma's only brother, however, is a worried man.
Mr Ochieng told Nation.Africa that amidst the preparations, there is a deep seated reservation among his people regarding the police investigations over the killings.
“I am greatly concerned that this case may fail to yield justice for my brother's family. The trajectory the case has taken is showing that very little may be achieved after the burial,” he laments.
Mr Ochieng claims that investigators have been coercing the first person to reach the scene on the fateful night to admit that he was part of the plan.
“This is a caretaker who was woken up by the pungent smell of petrol and rushed outside to investigate what was taking place. We have told them that the main suspect had threatened the family members, what else do they want?” he asks.
A mass grave in Upanda village, Sigomere, Siaya County for the family killed in a fire in this photo taken on May 7, 2025.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
Mr Ochieng now says that he is slowly losing hope of ever getting justice for his deceased brother and family with each passing day.
“After the burial, the investigators may go slow on the matter,” he laments
Ouma, his wife and their seven children, aged between six months and 17 years, died after their house was allegedly torched in what police are treating as an arson attack triggered by a land dispute.
The children were Seline Atieno, Lyon Otieno, Loela Atieno, Loice Achieng, Davis Ochieng, Rayan Odhiambo and Melvin Ochieng.
Meanwhile, the committee organising the funeral is calling on President William Ruto and other well-wishers to step in and help them raise the Sh2.5 million needed to give the nine family members a befitting send off.
Bishop Okoth Okoyo, who is chairing the committee, urged Dr Ruto to help them offset some of the bills.
“This is the last wedding of our departed family members; we are planning to give them a befitting send-off. According to our culture there are things we must do. This is the reason we are appealing directly to our president to step in,” says Bishop Okoyo.
“We have just put the iron-sheet on the building that the deceased had begun erecting. The cost is immense for the family to meet. We still need doors and windows to complete the house.”
According to the Bishop, there are still pending bills to pay at the mortuary as well as a post-mortem fee for each of the nine bodies, which must be conducted before a burial permit is issued.
Burial preparations are underway for fire victims in Upanda village, Sigomere, Siaya County, in this photo taken on May 7, 2025.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
“We don’t wish to postpone the burial anymore. We expect to host several people during the final send off and culturally we must feed them. We still don’t have the food, neither do we have the tents and chairs to be used during the ceremony,” says Bishop Okoyo.
After deliberation, according to Ochieng Amuok, the clan elder, they decided to have a mass grave for the family.
Even though this is contrary to the cultural practices of the Luo Community, Amuok cited limited space and resources.
“Initially, we had planned to have every deceased person in one grave; we however settled on a mass grave because of time and resource limitation. So they shall be buried together as a family,” he said.
Culturally, the house will be used by the remaining two children who were not present at the time of the fire.
