A family in Akipeneti Village, Buteba Sub-county, Busia District, Eastern Uganda, recently held a symbolic funeral for a banana stem after their son went missing two years ago.
Kennedy Were Wanga was reportedly kidnapped on April 23, 2022, in Nambaale, Busia-Kenya, by armed men in an unmarked car while visiting his second wife. Since then, he has neither been seen nor heard from, and his whereabouts remain unknown.
Wanga, who served as the Defense Secretary for Akipeneti Village, was also involved in the gold mining industry.
After consulting with local elders and religious leaders, Wanga’s family decided to conduct a burial for a banana stem in place of his body, assuming he had passed away. The stem was dressed in a suit and placed in a coffin to symbolize his burial.
The family had searched for Wanga in various prisons and police stations across Kenya for two-and-a-half years without success. His mother, Jacklyn Apondi Wanga, mentioned that they resorted to this ritual after experiencing signs they believed were from his spirit, urging for a proper burial.
As the coffin containing the banana stem was lowered into the grave, mourners gathered to pay their respects. The chairman of Akipeneti Village, Ibrahim Bokasa, noted that this was the first time he had seen such a ceremony, where a banana stem was treated as though it were a human body.
Bokasa also shared that Wanga, who had been an integral part of the village security team, had made significant wealth from gold mining before his disappearance.