Kiambu Deputy governor Njeri Kirika in family tussle over burial place of their father

Kiambu county Deputy Governor Rosemary Njeri Kirika has been sued alongside other persons in the burial dispute of her late father Mzee James Kinani Mburu.

The deceased was polygamous.

The first family of Mzee Mburu, whose body has been lying at the Kijabe Mission Hospital morgue since November 20 2024 is rooting for his burial at Gatanga in Murang’a, his ancestral home.

Mzee Mburu died at the age of 90.

But the second family and Ms Kirika, has been accused of making arrangements to inter the deceased at Gilgil in Nakuru County without involving the first family.

The court presided over by trial magistrate Gerald Gitonga heard that a grave has already been dug at Gilgil to bury the old man without the knowledge of the first family.

However, the burial has been stopped pending determination of the dispute being heard by the family division of the High Court.

Lawyers Stanley Kinyanjui and Danstan Omari have filed a case under a certificate of urgency seeking to have the deceased be buried at Gatanga, Murang’a.

The court heard on Wednesday (March 18,2025), under the Agikuyu Customs a polygamous man is usually buried at the homestead of his first wife.

The lawyers and the witnesses who have testified urged the court to allow Mzee Mburu to be buried under the customary rites, where his first wife Phelis Wanjiru Mburu is buried at Gatanga Murang’a.

Daughters of the deceased Ides Wairimu, Joyce Muthoni, Hannah Wanjiku and a grandson Antony Kinani Mburu have sued Charles Vincent Waweru, Rosemary Kirika, Alice Wambui, Geoffrey Ng’ang’a, Regina Muthoni and Patrick Karanja(clan elders) and their step children seeking to enforce the customary law.

The daughters, who were born in the 1950’s by Phelis and Mburu, states that they are very conversant with the Agikuyu customary laws and they are binding.

Mzee Mburu died on November 20,2024 at the Kijabe Mission Hospital.

During the proceedings, Gabriel Mwaniki, a clan and a committee member a witness in the case admitted that not all clan members attended the December 4, 2024, meeting where it was resolved Mzee Mburu be burried in Gilgil instead of Gatanga, his ancestral home.

Mwaniki who was cross-examined by Omari and Kinyanjui stated some family members were present in the meeting did not participate in subsequent discussions.

Kinyanjui questioned the legitimacy of signatures collected during the meetings claiming some were obtained without proper consent.

The court was told out of 21 family members who purportedly attended the burial dispute meeting only 11 agreed to the Gilgil burial.

The trial court heard when the decision to bury Mzee Mburu at Gilgil was reached the children of the first wife the late Phelis Wanjiru Mburu were excluded.

Also, a witness—who claimed to have had a close relationship with the deceased—admitted in court that he was unaware Mburu had been living in Gatanga for two years with his nephew, a Mr Kang’ethe.

The lawyers reigned in on the contradiction raising concerns on the truth of claims supporting the Gilgil burial.

The body of Mzee Mburu, 90, remains at AIC Kijabe Mission Hospital funeral home under a court order barring burial until the matter is resolved.

The dispute centers on whether Mburu should be laid to rest in Gatanga, Murang’a County—his ancestral home—or in Gilgil, where some relatives claim he had expressed a preference for burial.

More than ten family members have testified in court, disputing assertions by the defendants that Mburu wished to be buried in Gilgil.

Some elderly relatives alleged their signatures were acquired without their consent, further complicating the case.

Margaret Kanini Mwaniki, a niece of the deceased, told the court that she attended a family meeting at a hotel in Gatunyu, where she was asked to sign a document.

She stated that she believed it was a mere attendance register, only to later discover it was used to justify the decision to bury Mburu in Gilgil.

Three traditional experts from the Agikuyu Council of Elders testified, asserting that burying Mburu in Gilgil would contravene Kikuyu customs.

Elders Moses Muhia Maina and Patrick Kiguta Kimani explained that, according to Agikuyu traditions and customs, a man is typically buried at his first wife’s homestead within ancestral land, with the eldest son having the authority to approve the burial site.

Based on these customs, they argued that Gatanga is the rightful place for Mzee Mburu’s burial.

The elders further warned that disregarding cultural traditions could bring misfortunes upon the family, emphasising the significance of adhering to ancestral burial values and practices.