Luo Council of Elders Chairman wants Okoth’s wife inherited, notable reactions online

Luo Council of Elders Chairman Nyandiko Ongadi wants Ken Okoth’s widow - Monica Okoth – to be inherited in accordance with the Luo culture.

The elders' chair also wants the widow to accompany her mother-in-law and be part of the rituals. 

This is after the MP was cremated against the tradition of the Luo community.

According to the Luo culture, the family will have to burry a banana stem to represent the deceased.

The Kibra MP was cremated at Kariokor crematorium on Saturday morning despite resistance from some of the family members who wanted him buried at his maternal home in Kabondo Kasipul, Homa Bay County.

The memorial service scheduled on Saturday at Got-Rateng Primary School in the same area aborted after the news of the late's cremation broke out.

Okoth’s wife and her two in-laws reportedly went to the Lee Funeral Home on the wee hours of Saturday morning and claimed the body of her husband.

Despite opposition from the hospital’s management, they reportedly said plans were underway to block the road to prevent the remains of the late MP from being cremated.

The body of the late MP was to be flown to the said area for rituals before being brought back to the city for cremation.

Following the events, the Luo elder wants the widow to undergo rituals that precede such choices.

However, his suggestion has sparked mixed reactions with many claiming such events are outdated.

Here are some of the twitter reactions:

MUHAMMAD ONYANGO® @Moha001_Onyango

When I talked about us (Luos) having a conversation and amending some sections of Luo customs and traditions some of you laughed hysterically... Others told me not to care because I am a Muslim... Wife inheritance has room in this day and era!!!

Bernard Onyango @OnyangoAdede

The Luo Council of Elders exists in the media and political imagination. Beyond that, their power on the Luo community is zilch. Similarly, the wife inheritance practice is no longer a community norm and many choose not to observe it with no consequence.

Lydiah N. Kinyanjui @LydiahKinyanju4

In other words, the widow has no second chance to love-life & has to be humiliated further by being dictated on whom to marry?! Wacha hio chira inishike! Bafoon.

JOloo @oloojl

These villagers are looking for cheap publicity. I even wonder why the media is giving them this publicity in the first place.

Joe D. Ondulo @joe_ondulo

Haha! This is laughable! What will the rituals accomplish now that it has been claimed that burial rituals were not followed

Neuner @ShiNeuner

If I was that lady I would book the last minute flight and go back to my country. I can’t be inherited by someone's brother. NO WAY!! Someone you don’t love, u don’t have feelings for. Uuuuwiiiiii no wonder HIV goes merry-go-round. The whole family /village die of HIV.

Jameson @Jameson58

Am Luo but some cultures like wife inheritance are outdated. It was good in the 90s. (It led to spread of HIV among the Luo though...)Wife inheritance is no longer applicable today