Residents of Kashani area in Kiembeni, Mombasa were on Saturday left in shock after a family was forced to return the body of their loved one to the morgue, just hours before burial.
Preparations to inter the body of 43-year-old Edward Mwambui, a former KPA employee, were disrupted after police stopped the exercise following a court order obtained by Josephine Tole.
Tole, in the court paper, claims Prisca Kavua, Mwambui’s mother, trespassed into her land.
She sought orders stopping the burial saying the area where Mwambui’s family dug his grave was part of her land.
However, Tole, according to the court order, says the area where the grave was dug was not included in the transaction and remains hers.
“They had to take the matter to court because she sold her the wrong measurements and did not return his money. My brother then approached another seller and bought the rest of the land,” Hongo said.
Friends and relatives of the deceased had come from as far as Kisumu to pay their last respect.
“We had bent over backwards to make this funeral successful. Even the grave was ready. Now we are almost back to square one,” she said.
Police, who were sympathetic to the family, allowed the body, which had been brought home on Friday evening, to stay overnight but asked the family to do whatever it can to return it to the Coast General Hospital mortuary.
“This family is struggling to feed the guests. We had to contribute the little we had to even get a decent transport to this place. We almost failed to get money to transport the body back to the morgue because there is no money,” said Pastor Philip Mgandi of Jesus’ Power Church.
“If there is a case, let them solve it after the burial. Let the grieving family get closure first. That is my request,” said Pastor Mgandi.
Elderly Kavua said she only wants her son to rest in peace.
“I have lost many people. But I have never seen a body brought from the morgue for burial and then returned to the morgue. I have not,” said the elderly woman.
The woman had nine children and Mwambui is sixth to die.
Mwambui, who died on Monday, has left behind a wife and four children.
-The Star/Brian Otieno