Luo Council of elders Chairman Willis Opiyo Otondi offers solution on Ken Okoth’s burial

Luo Council of elders offers solution on Ken Okoth’s burial

Tony Mukere

July 31, 2019 7:27 AM

Here is what should be done

Luo Council of elders offers solution on Ken Okoth’s burial

The Luo Council of Elders has offered advise on how the ongoing conflict between relatives of the late Kibra MP Ken Okoth should be resolved.

The council’s Chairman Willis Opiyo Otondi advised that the first consideration is the presence of Okoth’s last will and testament that documents how he wished to be documented.

Members of the family who spoke to the family indicated that Okoth had expressed his wishes for cremation verbally – something that his mother Angeline Ajwang has disowned.

Otondi said in the absence of a will, the parties should first seek dialogue through their respective clan elders.

The late MP’s paternal relatives have laid claim to the body, even though Okoth’s father separated from his mother at a young age.

"We are not requesting Mama Ken, we demand that Ken Okoth be buried in Kochia, Rangwe constituency next to my late father,” Alfred Omondi, a step-brother of the deceased told the press on Tuesday.

The Luo Council of Elders said the two relatives should engage in a dialogue and try to find an amicable way of laying the deceased to rest.

However, Otondi explained that in the event that dialogue does not work, Okoth’s mother should have the final wish – having raised his son as a single mother.

Kabondo Homa Bay

In an interview on Tuesday, Angeline explained that her wish for her son to be laid to rest at her home in Kabondo, Homa Bay county.

She further added that she was opposed to cremation as it would mean she would not see her son’s grave.

“I am of the opinion that he be buried at Kabondo Kasipul in Homa Bay County, where I wake up and see his grave every day,” Ms Ongere stated.

The family is yet to communicate the final journey for Okoth, five days since his death.

If left to escalate, the dispute could revive memories of the famous Wambui Otieno vs Umira Kager court battle of the late 1980s.

In the long-running legal duel, the Court of Appeal ruled that Wambui Otieno could not bury her husband's remains in Upper Matasia even though the late, SM Otieno had wished to be buried there.

The judge ruled that an African could not run away from his customs, even in death, and thus granted the Umira Kager clan the permission to bury Otieno's remains.

Tony Mukere