Court orders man’s remains be buried as per Luo laws

By WILLIS OKETCH

A magistrate in Mombasa cited jurisprudence from the 1987 Silvanus Melea Otieno burial saga to make a ruling that any ethnic Luo who dies without a will should be buried according to Luo customary law.

Principal Margistrate Joyce Gandani made the ruling to in a bitter burial dispute pitting Gilbert Yoga’s widow and his nephew.

The widow Silpa Owa wanted to bury her late husband in Moa, a fishing village in Lamu, while Yoga’s nephew Francis Otieno wanted his uncle’s remains laid to rest in Kano where Yoga allegedly migrated from 30 years ago.

Yoga has lived in Mombasa and Lamu for decades and died at the Coast General Hospital on September 15.

His body has been lying at the hospital mortuary since.

“As a Luo he is subject to Luo customary laws. It is better his remains be buried in his home village among his relatives,” said Gandani.

Yoga died without a will although Silpa claims he had expressed a wish to be buried in Lamu.

On Friday, Gandani ruled that even if  Yoga had left a will, his relatives would still have a say over where he would be buried.

Burial wish

A shocked Silpa refused to accept the ruling and vowed not to accompany the body to Kano for burial as ordered by the court.

Silpa sued Otieno seeking to stop him from removing Yoga’s remains from the Coast General Hospital mortuary and transporting them to Kisumu for burial.

She accused Otieno of “poking his nose” in burial matters of the remains of her husband saying they had moved from Kano in Nyando 30 years ago.

The widow asked Gandani to stop Otieno and her husband’s relatives from collecting the body from the mortuary for burial in Kisumu.

Silpa claimed her husband had told her that his wish was to be buried at Moa in Lamu where he had built a home.

But Otieno dismissed her aunt’s claims that the family migrated from Kano to Lamu 30 years ago saying Silpa joined her husband in 2003.

The magistrate ruled that the widow had not produced a title deed to prove that the land she wanted her husband buried belonged to her and Yoga.

“She has failed to show me where she is going to bury the remains of her husband. Therefore, I do not know where she is going to bury the body,” said Gondani.

The magistrate said she agrees with Otieno’s that Yoga’s grave could easily be interfered with in future if he were buried in Lamu because the land which Silpa