Political supremacy between the incumbent Kitutu Masaba lawmaker and his predecessor took centre stage on Sunday during the burial of businessman Alvin Mwancha at Rigoma area in Nyamira County.
Timothy Bosire and former area MP Walter Nyambati do not see eye to eye since the former mauled the latter in the hotly contested 2013 general election.
Trouble began when Mr Bosire's supporters started chanting his name and making fun of Mr Nyambati even before the two politicians showed up for the funeral.
In response, Nyambati's supporters started the showdown as a funeral ceremony turned into a campaign ground with politically neutral attendants running away for their safety.
Normalcy returned following intervention from police officers who were deployed from Keroka. Surprisingly though, both politicians did not show up in the funeral but only opted to send their representatives.
“It has been a showdown and the two politicians seemed to have planned it all. They didn’t harm anybody though they temporarily disrupted our ceremony,” said Pius Mogaka, a family member.
Both parties accused each other for the tension with Timothy Bosire’s camp accusing their opponents of humiliation in many funerals that they attend.
“We should learn to be tolerant when it comes to funerals. Our competitors have lost focus and seem to be targeting us in such functions,” said Justus Omiti of Bosire’s camp.
“Let us all carry the responsibility and respect our people. Bringing political rivalry in places like funerals ceremonies is unethical,” said Peter Angwenyi of Nyambati’s camp.