The body of a Kenyan woman who died fifteen years ago is still at the morgue. Her family members are fighting over where she should be buried.
Local media reports that this body has been kept in a mortuary in Machakos County because her sons and step-brothers disagree on burial site.
Daily Nation named the deceased as Esther Nzakwa Kitivo. Her body has been kept at the Machakos Funeral Home since 2004 according Daily Nation.
The late Esther Nzakwa Kitivo’s sons have for the past fifteen years engaged their step-brothers in a protracted succession dispute.
An official at the mortuary told the newspaper that “The bill is still rising as each day. It is in millions of shillings.”
“We have not seen her kin for some years now,” the official is quoted as saying.
Court battle over dead body
Daily Nation reports that after Ms Nzakwa’s death in 2004, her step-son, Maurice Ndambuki Kitivo, went to court seeking an order to restrain his half-brother, Michael Musau Kitivo, from burying his mother.
Michael Musau Kitivo has wanted to bury his mother on a piece of land Maurice claimed was given to him by their father before he died.
Mr Musau wanted to bury his mother alongside their father on the land located in Kitanga in Kalama, Machakos County.
Ndambuki Kitivo disagrees and sought orders to stop that move. That means for the past fifteen years Esther Nzakwa Kitivo’s body remains in the morgue.
There seems to be no end in sight for this controversial issue since Mr Musau claims his mother wants to be buried next to her husband.
“Burying her elsewhere could lead to a curse,” Musau is quoted as saying in a 2013 media interview.
In many African societies fulfilling the wishes of the dead is considered very significant.
Source: Africafeeds.com
