At the burial of Ambassador Burudi Nabwera at Sango Farm in Kiminini on 24 October 2026, his daughter said something that caught the attention of everyone present. She told mourners that for politics their father supported Sifuna’s side. Video of the remark has since spread widely online.
The words pointed to the late diplomat’s quiet preference for Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and the Linda Mwananchi Brigade. Many saw it as a sign that the veteran statesman admired the vision of a younger generation of leaders.
A family friend named Evans added more detail. He said Nabwera had wished to meet Sifuna before he died. He also said Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya was expected to visit the ailing ambassador. According to Evans, Nabwera believed in the direction the young senator represents and also supported Natembeya.
Nabwera died on 8 or 9 October 2026 at the age of 99. He was Kenya’s first Ambassador to the United States and the country’s first Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He later served as Lugari MP and as a Cabinet minister. Several children survive him, among them Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera, who is aligned with the Tutam side of Western Kenya politics.
Political eyes were already on the family after an earlier requiem in Lang’ata. Mudavadi and Wetang’ula left as Sifuna spoke, and Sifuna publicly appealed to Nabii Nabwera to join him. Further services followed in Nairobi and Kiminini before the burial.
The family had tried to keep the funeral about grief rather than politics. Even so, the remarks at the graveside have placed the late statesman’s personal leanings with Sifuna’s emerging formation instead of the established Western Kenya leadership.
Tributes still centre on a lifetime of service that began with diplomacy in the 1960s and continued through parliament and the Cabinet. Yet the family’s words have added a modern political note to his farewell.