Mourners shocked as brothers bury their sibling secretly

Mourners in Kinangop Nyandarua County were left in shock after learning that a man set to be buried on Saturday had been secretly buried by his brothers.

The in-laws of 34-year-old Walter Makumi and who included his wife were left in shock after learning about the incident on Wednesday morning.

Makumi, who worked as technician in Kihara hospital in Kiambu, died last week due to kidney complications and was set to be buried on Saturday.

However, his brothers who had a burial permit managed to collect the body without the knowledge of the wife and buried it in their father’s farm in Magumu village in a hushed ceremony.

Following the incident, the emotional wife and her relatives trooped to the home but they were kept at bay by their in-laws who termed them as foreigners.

According to the wife Jane Wanjiru, trouble started last week when the relatives on two occasions decided to shift the bodies from mortuaries without consulting her.

Tears dropping down her cheeks, she said that the move was meant to lock her from some property that the deceased owned and his relatives wanted to take over.

“We have been married for eight years and have two boys but I have been locked out of the burial arrangements as they are after my husband properties,” she said.

Wanjiru told of her shock after learning that the body was collected from Thogoto mortuary on the previous day before been buried early in the morning.

“Even his workmates who were keen to attend the burial slated for Saturday have been left in shock and we shall go to court over this matter,” she said.

Another relative Joseph Karanja said that they had embarked on the process of seeking a court order to stop the burial after learning of their in-laws mischief.

He said that they first received a letter from their lawyer which they served to the mortuary, police and area chief.

“We were however advised to seek a court order and before we could get one we learnt that they had collected and buried the body,” he said.

Magumu Chief Ng’ang’a Njuguna confirmed the incident adding that there was little they could do to stop the burial as the family had a legal burial permit.

“The law is clear on this kind of an issue and the affected persons can seek an order to exhume the body or engage the other family for alternative dispute resolution,” he said.