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Sibling rivalry: Mum’s body to be exhumed after court tussle

By JUDY MITO  August 25th, 2017 1 min read

A Kakamega court has ordered that a woman’s body be exhumed after her five daughters won a legal battle against their elder sibling in a dispute over their mother’s burial.

Ms Jesca Lihavi, who died on March 4, was buried by her eldest daughter, Ms Irene Khatoro, at her farm in Lessos, Nandi County, but her other daughters wanted her buried at her matrimonial home.

The court on Thursday ruled that the body of Ms Lihavi be exhumed for reburial at Makhaya Village in Sigalagala, where the five sisters had argued that customs and traditions of the Bamakhaya clan demanded she be interred.

MATRIMONIAL HOME

Chief Magistrate Bildad Ochieng granted the wish of the five applicants — Ms Emily Liona, Ms Hildah Muranditsi, Ms Edigar Namsembe, Isabella Mbakari and Ms Catherine Busieka — to rebury their mother in her matrimonial home.

Ms Lihavin died while receiving treatment at Nairobi West Hospital and was buried by Ms Khatoro without the knowledge of her other daughters and relatives.

Mr Ochieng ordered the Nandi County Public Health Officer to supervise the exhumation.

The magistrate said: “I order the body of Lihavi be handed to the plaintiffs for an appropriate burial next to her husband.”