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Anyona's brother given burial ultimatum

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Published on Saturday, 02 June 2007 07:42

Former Kitutu Masaba MP George Anyona's brother has been given an ultimatum to start the latter's burial arrangements. Yesterday, a team of politicians and Mr Anyona’s supporters led by the national chairman of the Kenya people’s Party, Mr Oyondi Momanyi, gave Mr Stephen Mageto a week’s ultimatum to start the preparations or face the wrath of the constituents.

Mr Anyona’s remains have been lying at a Kisii private hospital's mortuary for the last three months. Mr Mageto, who is also a member of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, and Mr Anyona’s wife Esther and son Kwame, could not be reached to comment on the issue. Speaking to the Nation last month, Mrs Anyona complained that the burial of her husband had been unnecessarily delayed.

She said the burial saga had forced her daughter, who arrived in country in December from America, to attend to the burial, suspend her return "as she is determined to see her father buried first". Mr Ayondi said that any further delay of burial would not be entertained as there was no justification for it. Some residents of Mr Anyona’s Gatuta Village also demanded that a burial committee that was disbanded after Mr Mageto blocked the burial through a court injunction, be reconstituted to finalise the ceremony. The Gatuta burial committee was headed by a primary school teacher Nyachae Misati, who said he was willing to reconvene it if mandated by elders and Mr Mageto to do so. Mr Mageto had fought a successful legal battle, which saw the Kisii branch of the National Bank of Kenya exonerate the former MP, who died in a road accident in Nairobi late last year, from claims of misuse of the area's Chabumba Women Group’s money.

The late KSC chairman’s elder brother had moved to court demanding that the burial be delayed until the whereabouts of Sh2.3 million raised in 1997 was established. He urged the group officials, led by Callen Onkoba and Yunuke Bosire, to sue their account signatories whom the bank recognised as it customers until 2000 when the last withdrawals were made.

The bank, through its lawyer Arnold Ojiambo, told the court last week that Mr Anyona never withdrew any money from the group’s account. "Mr Anyona never signed any papers and as far as we are concerned, he did not withdraw any money from the account" said Mr Ojiambo. The Onkoba team had enjoined the bank in the suit, arguing that it owed them an explanation on the whereabouts of the money they had deposited at bank's branch.

The court will on February 25 make a ruling on whether the bank was wrongly enjoined in the suit or not. Mr Ayondi said that any further delay of burial would not be entertained as there was no justification for it. Some residents of Mr Anyona’s Gatuta Village also demanded that a burial committee that was disbanded after Mr Mageto blocked the burial through a court injunction, be reconstituted to finalise the ceremony.

The Gattuta burial committee was headed by a primary school teacher Nyachae Misati, who said he was willing to reconvene it if mandated by elders and Mr Mageto to do so. The court in January lifted the burial injunction clearing the way for Mr Anyona’s burial but Mr mageto declined to bury his brother saying he needed first to establish whether Anyona had withdrawn any money.

Principal Magistrate Samuel Soita in a ruling then said Mr Anyona "should be buried while the whereabouts of the funds case continued" but his advice was ignored. The Onkoba team had enjoined the bank arguing that it owed them an explanation on where the funds they deposited at the kisii branch went since they never withdrew the same. The court will make a ruling on whether the bank was wrongly enjoined in the suit on February 25.