Sisters take battle for husband's body to streets

A bitter Patriciah Nyamori Nyamasi (right) and her daughter Elizabeth Achieng hold a copy of the constitution as they protest the court verdict which denied them the burial right. [Photo: Nikko Tanui/Standard]

Kericho, Kenya: Two widows who happen to be blood sisters treated Kericho town residents to unusual drama after one of them took to the streets to protest a court ruling, which denied her the right to bury their husband.

The body of the deceased Peter Nyamori a carpenter who worked in Sosiot Belgut Constituency Kericho County, died on February 16, and has been lying at Siloam Hospital Mortuary.

One widow Patriciah Nyamori had sought an injunction to restrain her younger sister Pamela Jonyo from burying the body at Kano Kolwa, Kisumu County.

But Jonyo argued that the deceased had married Patriciah under Luo customary law in 1977 and got four children but the deceased did not set up a home in Uriri as per the Luo customs.

She told the court that Patriciah and the deceased had at some point separated in the year 1995 and therefore, the deceased could not be buried at Uriri. But Patricia argued that being a first wife and having established a home with the deceased at Uriri, she is the rightful person to bury the deceased.

Kericho Magistrate Lillian Kiniale ruled that according to evidence in court, the deceased was never close to Patriciah since the year 1995 or thereabout. He wanted to establish a proper home but the plaintiff was nowhere to be found.

"The defendant also being sister to the plaintiff took steps and went to their home to involve their parents but they still did not know where the plaintiff was and she was given the blessing to go ahead and set up a home with the deceased at Kano Kolwa," ruled the magistrate.

She added that two of the defense witnesses stated that if the deceased would not be buried at his properly established home as per the Luo customs, his spirit would haunt his children. The magistrate said it is in their best interest that if the body cannot be interred at his home at Kano Kolwa then the last resort is to bury him next to his father's grave at Kano Kolwa.

Not blessed

"The home at Uriri was not blessed per se by the father–in-law for a period of about ten years before he passed away," ruled Kiniale.

She also pointed out that Patriciah was not present to participate in her father-in-law's burial neither was she present at her brother–in-law's burial and the situation spoke volumes concerning the nature of the relationship that existed between the deceased and Patriciah.

The magistrate ruled that even though the deceased ought to be buried besides the first wife's hut, in the instant case the first wife has no properly established home where the deceased could be buried.

"Given the circumstance of this case, the only thing Patriciah can do is to be allowed to participate in the burial of her husband and mourn her husband," she said.

The court, therefore, decided that the deceased would be buried at his properly established home at Kano Kolwa.

Immediately after the ruling, Patriciah's advocate Julius Matonya, sought stay to file an appeal. He was ordered to file a formal application. As relatives walked out of the court, a scuffle ensued forcing officers to disperse the warring groups who were trading bitter words and counter accusation over the deceased's death.