For their slain comrade, university students sang patriotic songs, including the all-time favourite “Utawala” by the legendary Dandora-born musician Juliani.

They also performed dirges, songs of praise for Denzel Omondi Onyango, and those aimed at the government.

Monday, July 22, was not an ordinary ‘Kenyan day’ for battling weekend hangovers and handling Monday blues.

Besides gearing up for Tuesday’s weekly anti-government protests, mourners thronged Kanjira location, Karachuonyo constituency, Homa Bay County, to bid their final farewell to Denzel, a third-year student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, who was abducted, tortured, and murdered.

Nicknamed Deno by his parents, his lifeless body was found on July 6 floating in the abandoned Waterville quarry in Gachororo, Juja, Kiambu County, after he mysteriously went missing on June 27, a few days after the #OccupyParliament anti-government protests.

Mourning his son, his father, James Onyango, recalled the final moments he had with Denzel before he went missing.

“On June 27, we had a jovial father-son conversation. Little did I know that you were bidding farewell. I promised to call you back, but the call failed to connect to date,” he said.

“Deno, you are the only one who knows and understands my great love and admiration for you.”

Denzel’s mother, Jedidah Omburah, in a flowy navy-blue dress, painted for mourners the kind of person Denzel was.

Even as she tried to put on a brave face and maintain a stoic posture, her words betrayed the pain of a mother who had lost not only her son but also her first child, whom they all had high hopes for.

Cooking skills

A teacher by profession, Omburah shared that Denzel was obedient and performed well every task assigned to him.

At one point, she lifted the spirits of the sombre mourners as she described her son’s culinary skills.

“My son was not just a cook but a good cook. No one in the family could beat him in preparing pilau,” she said.

“Even villagers around here acknowledged that. He promised to teach me to prepare it; little did I know that it would never happen.”

To top it all off, Denzel’s mother went on to describe how her son left girls turning their heads with his charming looks and good taste in fashion.

“Take a look at the photos in the eulogy booklet; wasn’t my son cute?” she asked, then continued, “I thank Rosewood Funeral Home in Rongo Constituency for taking good care of my son. When we found him, he was in a terrible state. They (the funeral home) did their best to attend to my son.”

On the flip side, Denzel’s mother lamented that the family had not received any updates on the progress of investigations into who killed Denzel and in what circumstances.

’Cool friend’

In unison, his former high school friends at Rapogi Boys in Migori County and those from JKUAT stood in solidarity with his family to give their fallen hero a befitting send-off.

Even at the time of Denzel’s burial, mourners had not yet come to terms with the sudden and tragic demise of the young man, who was described by many as “a cool, loving friend and brother who could not harm anyone, let alone a fly”.

Speaking to People Daily, Raul Nyabola, one of Denzel’s closest friends, reminisced about their friendship, saying, “It took me close to two months to know Denzel Omondi’s name – all that time referring to him as Bro.”

“It was one of those fine early campus days when you had to be in the company of three to four friends to get a good restaurant and enjoy good food while roasting each other, for that’s the language we understood,” he said.

“I was in the company of [my best friend] Zack Amala. We later met Denzel and headed to Seasons Restaurant in Juja, where we had a good time and got to know each other. We didn’t exchange contacts that day.”

Because Denzel was close to Zack, the three often met and continued their roast game.

He added: “Our friendship later escalated to a business-oriented one, as Denzel used to connect me to some freelance jobs once in a while.

“It was a pleasure knowing him. We believe we’ll be comforted by the good memories we shared. May his soul find eternal peace, and may his family keep the faith.”