Residents of Chamuka village in Nyandarua county were on Monday treated to a bizarre incident after the body of a deceased villager was buried within 20 minutes.
It's said that the land on which 68-year-old Elijah Kogi was buried in is being fought over between family members, which saw one of the relatives obtain a court order blocking the burial.
According to Laban Mwangi, Kogi's younger brother, the relative is claiming ownership of the 24-acre land left for them by their late father. He, however, says that the latter has only been holding the land in trust for the family.
It's because of the fight that the family members decided to give the departed in a bizarre burial, where the usual rites like prayers, a funeral service and eulogies were skipped.
"He became angry when he heard that we were planning to bury my brother on that land. He is claiming full ownership of it,” Mwangi said on Wednesday.
He added that trouble began during the grave-digging exercise on Sunday, which the relative opposed, and the job was only done by force by those in support of the burial.
The tussle was also confirmed by Kogi's uncle Eliud Kimani, who said that attempts to solve the stalemate have been futile as the relative will not take anything short of the entire piece of land.
“We have tried mediation but one of the individuals who is feeling aggrieved has taken a hard stance. He will accept nothing short of full ownership of the land. If they all agree to listen to each other, we can resolve this issue in a day," he told the paper.
Mwangi said that this was a repeat of a 1999 incident, where the same relative blocked attempts to bury their mother in the land until the police were called in to intervene.