A family in Juja, Kiambu, decided to bury a banana stem in place of its kin’s remains after a court order barred it from going ahead with the ceremony.
Trouble started when relatives and friends on Monday gathered at the Kenyatta University Mortuary to collect the body of Chege Kamau, 90, but were met with a court injunction restraining them from burying him at his Magomano farm in Theta, Juja.
Peter Kamau, the deceased’s eldest son, said his three sisters went behind their back and obtained a court order stopping the burial.
The bone of contention was that Chege was living with his second wife in his Juja home and had expressed his wish to be buried there. This did not augur well with his daughters, who wanted him buried next to their late mother’s grave in Gitwe village, Gatundu South.
“My sisters have plunged us into all this mess. They obtained an injunction stopping our father’s burial on this site. My father made his wish clear and I’ll not be party to any of this drama or the court case. I’m off this matter. Let them do whatever they want with his remains,” Kamau said.
His sentiments were shared by his step-mother, Mary Njoki, who confirmed her husband’s wish that he be buried in Juja.
She suspects that her step-daughters object to Chege’s burial in Juja as part of a wider scheme to have her ejected from the land so they can possess it.
Elders immediately convened an impromptu meeting and resolved to to go ahead with the burial ceremony — deciding to bury a banana stem in place of the body, as a grave had been dug.
“According to the Kikuyu culture, once a grave is dug, it can’t be filled without burying the deceased. Otherwise, his ghost would haunt his family for not burying him on the date set for the event,” elder Kariuki wa Migwi said. “This may cause deaths in the family. Therefore, we must plant this banana stem to wade off this ghost.”
He said the banana symbolised life and as it grows and bears fruit, the bereaved family will live and multiply.
Migwi warned, however, that those who defy the wish and will of the deceased will have themselves to blame as the wrath of his spirit may descend on them.
The ceremony was conducted by only elders, who have been enthroned according to the Kikuyu traditional rituals. “No one can carry or bury this stem if they have not completed all the rituals to be installed as an elder. Deviating from these norms may result in calamities,”
Migwi warned.
