A Divided Legacy: Deputy Governor’s Father Buried at Night, Sparking Exhumation Threat

Kiambu County Deputy Governor Rosemary Njeri Kirika’s late father might be exhumed following a debatable night burial conducted last week, reigniting a bitter family feud that has raged in Court for nearly a year.

The first wife, Phelis Wanjiru Mburu’s children, have threatened to return to Court seeking orders to exhume the body of their 90-year-old father, arguing that the burial was carried out irregularly and in secrecy.

Deputy Governor and her siblings interred their father, Mburu Kinani, on the evening of Wednesday, September 17, 2025, at his Gilgil farm in Nakuru County, contrary to the wishes of his first family, who had insisted he be buried at his ancestral home in Katanga, Gatanga Constituency, Murang’a County, where their late mother lies.

The patriarch’s body had been lying at the AIC Kijabe Mission Hospital mortuary since November 20, 2024, following a prolonged burial dispute between his two families.

The first family argued that custom and tradition demanded their father be laid to rest in Gatanga.

“Our father’s rightful resting place is beside our mother at the ancestral home,” they told the Court.

But the second family, led by the deputy governor, insisted that the deceased had expressed his wish to be buried in Gilgil next to his second wife, Magdalene Waithera Mburu.

Although a video recording allegedly capturing the patriarch stating his burial wish from his hospital bed was produced in Court by the stepchild-led deputy governor Njeri, the trial court disregarded it due to contradictions about who recorded it.

The Milimani Chief Magistrate’s Court initially ruled in favour of the first family, directing that the burial take place in Gatanga.

But on September 16, 2025, High Court Judge Hellene Namisi overturned that decision, allowing stepchildren led by Njeri to bury him at Gilgil.

Barely 24 hours later, the body was removed from Kijabe mortuary and buried at 6 p.m. on September 17 under tight arrangements without allowing his biological children, Ides Wairimu, Joyce Muthoni, Hannah Wanjiku, and Attorney Kinani Mburu to attend the burial.

Lawyer Danstan Omari, representing the first wife’s children, condemned the manner of the burial conducted by their step-siblings, including deputy governor Njeri, Geoffrey Nganga, Alice Wambui, and Regina Muthoni.

“A man was buried at night without any ceremony. A trend has emerged where, nowadays, deceased persons at the center of a burial dispute are buried at night, and we shall be moving to Court to exhume the body of Mburu Kinani,” Omari said.

He added they would petition the Chief Justice Martha Koome to issue practice directions requiring automatic stays of burial orders for at least 10 days to allow for appeals.

“Since the subject matter has been buried, the cause of action changes from stopping burial to exhumation. Mburu Kimani, the father of the Kiambu Deputy Governor, being buried as a dog is completely repugnant to morality and justice. We have instructions to pursue the issue so that if the burial must be at Gilgil, it is done when every family member is present. Rites are properly observed,” Omari told journalists.

His colleague, advocate Stanley Kinyanji, accused the judiciary of “selective efficiency” in issuing decrees that allowed the night burial while ignoring their urgent stay application, staying the implementation of the High Court decision.

“Immediately after the judgment was read on September 16, 2025, the respondents(stepchildren) rushed to the mortuary with a casket. By September 17 at 6 p.m., the burial had already taken place. Our stay application, filed under certificate, was only given directions on September 18  by the High Court long after the burial,” Kinyanji said.

While allowing Mburu to be buried at Gilgil, Justice Namisi observed that the older man had abandoned his customary way of life and embraced Christianity- hence the Agikuyu customs had to give way.

“Secondly, the Deceased contracted a statutory Christian marriage with Magdalene Waithera on March 14, 2020, at a church in Gilgil. It was after almost 37 years of enjoying a union with her under customary marriage. This created a primary legal bond with his second wife and her children, the Appellants,” said the judge.

The judge said the wishes of the deceased, though not legally binding, should, as far as practicable, be given effect.

The Court noted that the Gilgil family insisted that their father made an “express and unequivocal wish” to be buried in Gilgil next to his late wife, Magdalene.

They presented several witnesses and the video recording to support their claim.

The witnesses, including Bishop David Karethiu, said the older man had on several occasions, particularly around the time of the burial of his second wife, Magdalene, stated his wish to be buried in Gilgil next to her.

The judge noted that the most significant piece of evidence was the video recording made by a nurse, who allegedly recorded it on her phone in 2020 at St. Mary’s Hospital. In the video, Mr Mburu allegedly stated his wish to be buried in Gilgil.

However, the Court said there were contradictions in the production of the video evidence.

“Given the conflicting testimonies, inconsistencies, and lack of clear corroborated evidence, this Court finds that the oral wishes of the Deceased regarding his burial place have not been proved to be unequivocally ascertainable. The trial court’s finding that the wishes of the Deceased could not be confirmed or verified is, therefore, upheld,” said the judge.

Justice Namisi said that for four decades, Mr Mburu had chosen to establish his home and family in Gilgil and had even chosen to enter into a statutory marriage, even after more than 30 years of a customary union.

“He chose to be with his second family. He chose to bury his second wife, Magdalene Waithera, there, where a grandchild had been interred earlier. To apply a rigid customary rule that effectively erases these profound, lifelong, and constitutionally protected choices would be to diminish his dignity in death,” said the judge.

The Court added, “It is, therefore, my considered view that the trial court erred in law by prioritising a contested customary norm over the Deceased’s lived reality.”
Justice Namisi further added that there was a clear and damning picture of the irretrievable breakdown of the relationship between Mr Mburu and his first family.

She said in a letter, November 4, 2009, Mr Mburu stated that following the mistreatment by the first wife, he had decided never to return to that house.

“A corroborating letter from Phelis Wanjiru stated that she no longer wanted to live with the Deceased. A further letter dated November 5, 2009, by Joyce Muthoni confirms her mother’s unwavering decision to separate,” noted the judge.

The Court said the first family’s long alienation from the older man, contrasted with the second family’s care for him in his final years, spoke volumes about where his attachments lay.

“The final resting place of the late Mburu Kinani shall be his farm in Gilgil, Nakuru County, next to the grave of his late wife, Magdalene Waithera Mburu,” said the judge.

According to the Judge, the burial was to be conducted in a manner that respects his Christian faith and his Agikuyu heritage, with the specific arrangements to be led by the Gillgil family, who shall accommodate the participation of the family from Gatanga.

At the same time, the children of the late Mburu are said to be engaged in a multi-billion-shilling property dispute in Gilgil, where their second wife and now their father have been buried, with the matter pending before the Nakuru Law Courts.