Former Sugar boss is dead, body buried in Tanzania

A former chief executive officer of the defunct Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) Andrew Otieno, who died on January 1, has been buried in Tanzania, against his Kenyan family’s wish.

In what shocked the family and friends, Otieno’s body was yesterday buried in Dar-es-Salaam, where he lived with his younger wife, a Tanzanian.

His brother George Otieno told The Standard family members were shocked to learn that their kin had already been buried, even as they made arrangements to lay him to rest at his home in Ndhiwa, Homa Bay County.

“It came as a shock but the truth is that Andrew has been buried in Tanzania against our wishes. I was in Tanzania, but I am now driving back to Nairobi,” said George.

He added: “There has been total confusion. We boycotted the burial because it went against our wishes.”

Business trip

Sources close to the family said Otieno’s family in Nairobi was planning to go to court to stop his Tanzanian wife from burying him.

Otieno worked and lived in Dar-es-Salaam after he quit the KSB in 2007. He died at a hotel in Arusha on January 1, where he was on a business trip.

A chemical engineer, Otieno run the Crest Group of Companies in Tanzania, where he majored in consultancies.

Yesterday, his lawyer Fred Athuok said a postmortem on his body was conducted at Mt Meru Hospital in Arusha on January 3.

“I am saddened that we have lost one of Kenya’s finest brains in chemical engineering,” said Mr Athuok.

It was not clear yesterday whether the family in Nairobi would press on with the court matter, now that Otieno has been buried. A postmortem report showed breathing problems and multiple organ failure as cause of Otieno’s death.