The family of the late Mburu Kinani, father to Kiambu Deputy Governor Rosemary Njeri Kirika, is embroiled in a bitter dispute over his final resting place after claims that he was buried in secret at night without the involvement of all his children.
Aggrieved members of his first family are now seeking to moved to court again seeking orders to exhume his body, accusing their step-siblings of sidelining them in the burial arrangements.
Through an affidavit sworn by his daughter, Joyce Muthoni Mburu, the family insists that the night burial was irregular and a violation of both court orders and customary traditions.
“Our appeal is not frivolous as the deceased is my biological father, and it is my wish to see that he is laid to rest according to what we believe in as his children and in the correct manner,” reads part of Muthoni’s affidavit.
The family’s lawyers, Danstan Omari and Stanley Kinyanjui, told journalists outside Milimani Law Courts on Monday that the Deputy Governor and her siblings proceeded with the interment despite an existing order from a magistrate stopping the burial.
According to the lawyers, the stepchildren obtained a set of “sneaked documents” before the High Court to set aside the magistrate’s ruling, a move the first family argues was fraudulent.
“Mzee Mburu deserves a decent and dignified burial in which all his children must participate, as is required under customary law,” Omari said.
Court filings indicate that the body was collected from Kijabe Hospital by the Deputy Governor’s side of the family before it was taken to Gilgil, Nakuru County, where it was interred on the night of September 17, 2025.
Muthoni laments that the family has suffered immeasurable grief due to being denied the chance to bid farewell to their father.
“In the event my father is interred in Gilgil, the loss we shall suffer as his biological children is immeasurable as it is humanly impossible to calculate human grief and anguish. We stand to suffer irreparably,” she stated in her affidavit.
Kinani passed away on November 20, 2024, but the dispute over his burial has since opened deep family wounds, setting the stage for yet another protracted legal battle.
