A court has ordered the wrangling children of the late Milkaa Ongubo to transfer her body from Nakuru to Nairobi for a funeral service before burial in Nyamira county next week.
Magistrate Festus Terer also ordered that a fresh postmortem be conducted on the body and that all her five of her children to be represented during the process.
The orders followed a fight between the siblings who had disagreed on Moraa’s funeral arrangement plans.
Among the disagreements was where to hold a funeral service.
Ongubo’s children Julia Kemunto, Joyce Kerubo and Jackson Momanyi against their siblings Justus Morara and Judy Kemuma instigated the court battle.
Julia, Joyce and Jackson sued Justus and Judy arguing that the duo had excluded them from their mother’s burial arrangements.
Key on the issues was a demand by the petitioners that their mother’s body be ferried from Umash Funeral Home in Nakuru to Nairobi for a mass service at Citam Church in Karen ahead of burial.
They also sought a court order for a postmortem to be conducted on the body of their mother to establish the real cause of death.
The petitioners claimed Justus, who lives in the US came to Kenya and took away their mother from her home in Langata, Nairobi to an unknown location without their knowledge.
“The removal of our mother was done in a clandestine manner without her clothing or essential medication, raising great concern for her health and wellbeing,” they petitioners said.
For five weeks, the petitioners claimed they did not know the whereabouts of their mother and that Justus left her under the care of an unknown person despite her ailing from a condition of advance dementia that required constant care.
“On September 21, the first respondent (Justus) broke the news of our mother’s passing through a family WhatsApp group, alleging the cause of death to be cardiac arrest,” the petitioners said.
On September 28 Justus and Judy ran an obituary which said their mother would be buried on Friday October 3 after a night vigil at her home in Nyamira county.
However, his siblings moved to court seeking urgent orders to block the planned burial saying they had been excluded.
“Unless restrained, the respondents will proceed with the burial to the exclusion of the plaintiffs, thereby occasioning irreparable harm, family disharmony and indignity to the memory of the deceased,” the petitioners said.
Magistrate Terer of the family court in Nairobi then stopped the burial pending a determination of the petition.
The court also barred Umash Funeral Home from releasing Moraa’s body to anyone until the case is determined.
Lawyer Danstan Omari who represented the petitioners said Julia, Joyce and Jackson want their mother’s body ferried to Nairobi for a funeral service at Citam Church in Karen where she worshipped.
Mama Moraa was a retired nurse who had worked at the Ministry of Defence Memorial Hospital for 32 years. She also served as a chief inspector of police. She was aged 76 at the time of her death.
“My clients want the body ferried to Nairobi for an independent postmortem to be conducted with the inclusion of everybody. After that, we plan to have a mass service for the deceased at Citam Church in Karen because that is the community where she worshipped,” Omari said.
He said the petitioners were ready to meet the costs of ferrying the body from Nakuru to Nairobi.
However, lawyer John Ouma representing Justus and Judy, opposed the request to have the body ferried to Nairobi. He said his clients, Justus and Moraa, want their mother’s remains taken straight from Nakuru to Nyamira county for a night vigil at home before she is buried the next day.
“There is no dispute and everybody is allowed to participate in the burial. The defendants don’t see why the body must be brought to Nairobi. All the prayers can be done at her home in Nyamira,” Ouma submitted.
Justus and Judy had described the petition as frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of the court process, urging the court to dismiss it.
But in his ruling, Terer allowed the prayers sought and directed the transfer of Moraa’s body from Nakuru to Umash Funeral Home in Nairobi.
The court said the plaintiffs and the defendants have equal rights to bury their mother.
“It is my finding that there is absolutely no prejudice if the body of the deceased is brought to Nairobi (from Nakuru) for the plaintiffs, their friends and the deceased church members at Citam-Karen to pay their last respects,” the court ruled.
“The plaintiffs to meet the cost of transferring the body from Nakuru to Nairobi and a joint post-mortem of the deceased body to be undertaken not later than October 14, 2025. The plaintiffs to conduct a memorial service of the deceased at Citam-Karen on or otherwise not later than October 15, 2025,” Terer added.
Terer directed that Moraa’s body be transported jointly by all her children to Nyamira county on October 16 for a night vigil and that burial be held the following day on October 17.
The court also directed that police bosses in Langata and Nyamira where the service and burial will be held provide security to ensure compliance with the orders.
The case will be mentioned on October 23 to confirm if everything went according to the court orders.
