President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed that all Kenyan flags be flown at half-mast in honour of the late Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza.
Flags in all public buildings and grounds will be flown at half-mast from June 13 to the sunset of the day Nkurunziza will be interred.
Nkurunziza died aged 55 and is believed to have succumbed to Covid-19.
However, the government of Burundi in a statement announcing his passing on said he died of a heart attack.
“The Government of the Republic of Burundi announces with great sadness the unexpected death of his excellency Pierre Nkurunziza, President of the Republic of Burundi. He died at the Cinquantenaire Hospital in Karusi following a cardiac arrest on June 8, 2020,” the statement from government spokesman read in part.
Burundi has started observing the seven-day mandatory routine of flying the flag at half-mast to mourn the strongman who ruled he country for 15 years.
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Nkurunziza received a lot of criticism for failing to put in place measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, at some point denied the existence of the virus in Burundi.
Burundi’s First Lady Denise Nkurunziza returned home soon after the death of er husband after her treatment in Kenya for two weeks.
The First Lady landed at Melchior Ndadaye International Airport in Bujumbura on Tuesday evening.
She had contracted the virus as well although an official in Burundi President’s office has denied.
According to Burundi media, “Denise Bucumi Nkurunziza arrived on board a non-medicalised flight by the Kenyan private company Phoenix. It was a jet with the captain and the co-pilot only”.
She had been evacuated to Agha Khan Hospital on May 27.
