Drama in Tharaka Nithi as angry mourners attack glutton after he stole food at funeral

There are many things you can steal in this cold month and perhaps get away with it. Unfortunately, a big kettle full of steaming tea is certainly not one of them, as one seemingly gluttonous mourner at Kamumu village in Tharaka Nithi County rudely discovered last weekend.

Edward Namu, who locals says is infamous for gatecrashing weddings and other related events where there is plenty of free food, found himself between the hammer and an anvil after he tried to steal tea and a basin full of mandazi at a funeral.

Shocked mourners expressed their annoyance by descending on him with kicks and blows, asking him to change his gluttonous ways.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, how can you steal tea and mandazi at a funeral? Can’t you just eat the little that is available like everyone else?” wondered an enraged local loudly, as she told him off.

When nabbed slithering out of the home with the kettle of tea and mandazis wrapped in a sweater, Namu tickled some of the locals when he tried to explain what inspired him to steal.

“We hardly have events where people converge and enjoy free meals in this area. I can’t recall, for instance, the last time we had a wedding around here,” giggled Namu, as he tried to explain why he stole a whole kettle of tea and dozens of mandazis for himself, yet there were many other hungry and freezing mourners, desperate to ward off the cold with the tea.

Grieving mourners who were still coming to terms with the fact that someone can steal food at a funeral were further worked up when Namu tried to make light of the weighty matter by joking about the whole incident.

Breach of protocol

“Whatever happened to weddings? Nowadays people have completely refused to marry each other. Most people who like eating at weddings are really having a hard time, I tell you,” joked Namu, to the chagrin of the charged mourners.

As is custom in most parts of greater Meru region, mourners take meals after burials. But in unimaginable breach of protocol, a seemingly hungry and impatient Namu ignored a directive from the master of ceremony, demanding that guests from Nairobi be allowed to eat first.

Masquerading as a caterer, Namu jumped the queue for food, took the kettle full of tea and mandazi and made as he wanted to go round serving guests, only to melt out of the home with them.

“When asked to serve the tea, he claimed it had no sugar and he was taking it back to the kitchen to be added sugar,” said a local, who tried to get served by Namu in vain.

Angry mourners caught up with Namu as he left the home and attacked him, causing a fine mess that took the intervention of elders to solve.