Fri, 4 Apr 2008 03:29:41
By Jeff Otieno
KISUMU – The body of the late Nyando tycoon Paul Isaac Odero is still lying at Aga Khan Morgue over two months after it was controversially retrieved from his grave in Wang’aya Village in Nyando District.
Two sons of Odero, Isaac and Peter, went to Court in early February of this year to challenge the move by the clan and other family members to bury the tycoon’s body in his native Wang’aya village.
Kisumu Principal Magistrate Abdul Elkindy immediately granted the orders permitting the plaintiffs to retrieve the body until the verdict of the suit is known. The removal of the body from the graveyard was, however dramatic. The prisoners who were sent to execute the order retrieved it without the coffin to the chagrin of villagers.
Notably, the tycoon’s wives Peres, Helida and Risper have ganged up with the two sons for the body to be buried in Muhoroni settlement scheme while the other wife Ogonda together with other children of the tycoon and clan members are in favor of burying the tycoon in his native Wang’aya village. The latter allege that those were the wishes of the late Isaac even though he didn’t put it in writing as a will.
This week the presiding Magistrate decided to transfer the case to the high court citing traditional customs inconsistent with the late Odera’s being a staunch Muslim.
For starters, the late tycoon has a galaxy of rental business and other properties like land webbing across Nyanza province’s major towns. He had five wives, four of whom are alive to date, and close to forty children.
A source in the family fraternity who talked to this journalist on condition of anonymity was, however, not happy with the prevailing tussle, wondering aloud who will foot the staggering accumulating bills at the prestigious Aga Khan Hospital mortuary after the determination of the suit.
“All these expenses being incurred at the mortuary and in court should have been channeled to the late Odero’s school childrens’ education kitty,†he noted.
END
