Residents of Katituni village exhumed the body believed to be that of Jonathan Mutisya Mwania, a pastor at Africa Brotherhood Church (ABC) over the weekend and buried a sheep in its place.
The body was exhumed following a court order under the watchful eye of Administration Police officers and chief Daniel Wambua at his Katituni home.
Mr Mwania died on August 10, at Kathiani Level Four Hospital after a short illness and was buried a week later at his home in a ceremony mostly attended by pastors and select church choirs. The body was later to be identified to be that of John Kamusina Ndambuki, prompting the exhumation for which the elders were present to conduct a ritual to “drive away curses and protect the family from calamities.”
The pastor's widow's protests fell on deaf ears, even after describing the act as satanic and out of conformity with her faith as elders swung into action as soon as the coffin was brought to the open.
An elder, James Makau, grabbed the sheep and in one stroke, cut its throat, disemboweled it before depositing the twitching carcass inside the grave. A banana crop was later planted on the grave.
“We cannot expose our family to calamities knowingly. The Kamba tradition is part of our life and in such a situation, we must abide by it,” Mwania Muinde, 85, father to Pastor Mutisya said.
It is claimed that failure to conduct the ritual could see family members die every year.
The widow, Ms Nduku, 59, however, described the ritual as satanic and threatened to leave the family.
“My husband was a pastor and we all believe in God. I’m totally against this satanic move and I might be forced to leave the family,” Nduku protested.
She said she had barely started healing when she was told that she buried the wrong body and that her late husband’s body still lay at the mortuary.
“It was hard to believe. All his uncles accompanied me to the mortuary where we confirmed the body was his and we took it for burial,” she said.
The exhumed body was later buried at Muisuni village in Mwala sub-county. That of the pastor still lies at Kathiani Level Four Hospital mortuary as his distraught family plans for yet another burial.