Body of a man still in Kisumu mortuary 7 months later

A row between a woman and her step-children has blocked the burial of a man who died seven months ago.

The parties have disagreed over where Stephen Onyango Achola from Ofunyu village, Nyalunya sub-location in Kisumu County, should be laid to rest.

Mr Achola's body, which has been lying at Avenue Hospital in Kisumu for the seven months, cannot be interred because of a long-standing court case precipitated by the family's disagreement over where he should be buried.

The case before Senior Resident Magistrate Harrison Adika has dragged on because three children of the deceased's first wife (who is also deceased) have failed to agree with their step-mother (the second wife) where to bury Achola.

Norah Adongo Onyango, Gloria Apiyo and Paul Oyango Achola, the children of the deceased and the plaintiffs, want their father's body interred in Ofunyu village on a piece of land adjacent to the deceased's homestead.

SAME VILLAGE

His second wife, Jane Onyango, is of the view that his remains should be interred at the home Achola established in the same village.

The burial matter has been further complicated by the entry of his two brothers, Samuel Otieno Omumbo and Francis Allan Were, as interested parties who said their brother should be buried at his grandfather's home.

Efforts to have the three parties agree on a common ground have so far been futile despite spirited interventions by the court and elders.

In a court order dated March 8, 2016, the three parties were directed, by consent, to have the body of the deceased interred in Ofunyu village on a date to be agreed by all the parties.

DECEASED'S HOMESTEAD

The same order stated that the burial site shall not be on the parcel of land where the deceased's homestead is located but on a different and adjacent parcel of land.

All parties were at liberty to participate in the funeral arrangements and attend the burial.

Meanwhile as the case is ongoing, the mortuary bills have continued to soar. This is in addition to a hospital bill incurred by the deceased.

According to an interim invoice from Avenue Hospital in Kisumu, parts of which are in court, the hospital's bill stood at Sh1,049,434 as at August 18.