12/08/2026
Let’s be honest, this is painful to read.
KSh 3.9 million was raised in the name of giving Tony Ndiema a dignified sendoff. People contributed in good faith, believing they were supporting a grieving family, a widow, children, a mother left behind.
Then you look at the spending, and it tells a very different story.
Catering alone at 1.6 million.
A tent at over 600,000.
Transport logistics nearly half a million.
Candle lighting over 100,000.
At what point did this stop being a funeral and turn into an event?
Funerals are meant to honor the dead, yes, but also to protect the living. That is the part that has been completely ignored here.
In a few weeks, when schools open, Tony’s children will not remember the size of the tent. They will not remember the sound system, the videography, or how much food was served.
They will remember being sent home for school fees.
They will remember empty kitchens.
They will remember rent pressure.
They will remember struggle.
No child has ever eaten “catering”. No widow has ever paid rent with “candle lighting expenses”. No family has ever survived on “A-frame tents”.
We must stop this culture of turning funerals into public displays while the actual family sinks quietly into hardship after the crowds leave.
If even a fraction of this money had been set aside, it could have secured school fees, food, or even a small business for the widow. That would have been a true sendoff, one that protects the future of those left behind.
Instead, everything is gone, and even a deficit remains.
This is not dignity. This is negligence.
And it is time we said it clearly, without fear or politeness, this must change.
