A Court in Kenya has ordered a polygamous family to bury their family head on a boundary between their two adjoining land spaces. The purpose of the court injunction is to avoid further quarrel between the two wives.
The late famous Kiambu businessman, Christopher Mbote, died in a Nairaobi hospital on Monday. According to report, he was supposed to be buried on Friday, January 27, but the second wife went to court to hinder the process. The first wife, though, had already dug a grave on her property for the burial.
Mbote, 78, lost his life to a serious illness in the previous week on Monday. He had a polygamous family of 2 wives and 13 children. It was said that his death wish was to be buried in his rural home in Gatundu.
Chief Magistrate Stella Atambo instructed that the grave should be dug equally from both sides of the land so that both parties would easily access the graveyard.
The second wife, Ann Njeri Mbote, tried to stop the burial preparations legally, claiming she has been left in the dark regarding the burial preparations.
The family was also ordered to get a Title Deed of that particular piece of land that will bear the names of the two wives.
Chief Magistrate Atambo said: “The Court orders that the deceased Christopher Mbote be buried on a parcel of land known as LR13537/101. That the place of burial shall be excised from the mother title and a separate title thereof shall be issued in the joint names of the two wives.”
The Both wives were represented by their lawyers, and they agreed to co-operate with the decision of the court. They promised that the deceased will be buried on February 3rd, 2023 as ordered, and that no party will be left uninformed about the arrangements.
“We will do our best to make sure that these two families are at peace. We thank the judiciary for the mediation and we hope going forward, the family of Christopher will live together just the way he wanted,” said Advocate Mungai Wainaina, representing the second wife.
