Court orders siblings to jointly organize burial of their mother

A Nairobi court Wednesday ordered members of the Ongubo family to jointly organize the burial of their late mother, Milka Moraa Ongubo, following a dispute over her funeral arrangements.

Senior Resident Magistrate Festus Terer of the Milimani Commercial Courts ruled that all of the deceased’s children have equal rights to participate in her burial and associated arrangements.

The ruling came after Julia Kemunto Ongubo, Joyce Kerubo Ongubo, and another sibling sued their brother Justus Morara Ongubo and his wife Judy Kemuma Ongubo, seeking orders to stop the burial of their mother without their involvement.

The plaintiffs claimed that their brother, who resides in the United States, took their mother from her home in Lang’ata, Nairobi, to an undisclosed location in August without their knowledge.

They alleged that he later announced her death via a family WhatsApp group on September 21, claiming she had died of cardiac arrest, but without providing any medical or post-mortem report.

They further accused the defendants of excluding them from burial arrangements after learning through a newspaper obituary that plans were already underway to bury the deceased in Nyamira County.

Through lawyer Danstan Omari, the plaintiffs argued that they had been their mother’s primary caregivers for over a decade and sought to participate fully in her final rites, including conducting a memorial service in Nairobi where she lived and worshipped.

However, the defendants, represented by lawyer John Ouma, dismissed the case as frivolous and insisted that there was no burial dispute since their mother was to be buried at her home in Nyamira.

They also claimed the plaintiffs were free to participate in the funeral and that there was no need to move the body from Nakuru to Nairobi.

In his ruling, Magistrate Terer held that while the deceased was to be buried in Nyamira County, her body should first be taken to Nairobi to allow her church members and friends to pay their last respects.

“There is absolutely no prejudice if the body of the deceased is brought to Nairobi for a memorial service,” the magistrate ruled, adding that the plaintiffs will bear the cost of transporting the body from Umash Funeral Home in Nakuru to Nairobi.

The court further ordered that a joint post-mortem be conducted on the body before October 14 to determine the cause of death.

A memorial service will then be held at CITAM Karen by October 15, after which the body will be transported jointly by all her children to Nyamira County on October 16 for burial on October 17.

The court also directed that all the deceased’s children participate in preparing the eulogy and burial programme, and ordered the OCS Lang’ata and Nyamira Police Stations to facilitate compliance with the orders.

“No party has superior rights over the other. All the deceased’s children possess equal rights to decide where, when, and how their mother ought to be buried,” the magistrate ruled.