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
OH YES! MY FATHERS HOSPITAL BILL SHOULD NOT WORRY ANYBODY. WHY ADDRESS HIM AS A TYCOON????????. WHAT WE THE FAMILY WANT IS FOR MY LATE FATHERS REQUEST AND FINAL WISH IS OBSERVED, THAT IS TO BE BURIED IN MUHORONI WHERE HE SET UP HOME WITH HIS FIRST WIFE(HELIDAH ODERO). BY THE WAY MY FATHER, HAS NOT GOT ANY CHILDREN OF SCHOOL AGE . FURTHER MORE TO THE PERSON WHO COMMENTED THAT “WAR STILL RAGES OVER TYCOONS BODY” THIS IS DEFINATELY NOT THE CASE, WITH GOODWILL ON BOTH SIDES. HOPEFULLY THIS MATTER CAN BE RESOLVED AMICABLY .
Josephine I really empathise with your family for the loss of your loved one,however lets face the facts here,your dad passed on and was buried in a place that goes “against his wish” as you put it,but knowing how slow our justice wheels move cant we let his body rest in nyando as you await for the courts verdict??if the courts backs your version then you can exhume the body and give him a second,decent send off in muhoroni?? either place he is buried at the moment pending the courts verdict isnt strange since in his time he actually stayed in both places in one time of his life
KEVIN THANKS FOR YOUR RATHER REVOLTING ADVISE!!! FOR YOUR INFORMATION MY DAD MOVED FROM KANO SINCE 1969 AND THE ONLY WOMAN LEFT THEIR WAS (ABANDONED) BY HIM AND HE NEVER RETURNED TO THAT HOMESTEAD AFTER MOVING THE FIRST WIFE AWAY AND THE REST OF HIS WIVES. MY LATE FATHER WOULD HAVE NOT COMPREHENDED BEING LEFT IN NYANDO PENDING COURT VERDICT, IN A HOME WITH NOTHING MORE THAN A HAT USED AS A SHELTER FOR ANIMALS. EXCUSE ME!! MY FATHER LIVED A GRAND LIVESTYLE AND SO EVEN IN DEATH HE HAS EVERY RIGHT. HOW CAN WE HIS CHILDREN BURRY HIM IN A PLACE WHERE ,EVEN DURING HIS LIFE, HE NEVER WANTED TO KNOW MUCH ABOUT EXCEPT TO VISIT HIS FARMS IN THE NEARBY AREA. MY LATE FATHER IS FOR SURE MORE THAN HAPPY TO BE AT THE MORTUARY WHILE WE AWAIT THE COURTS VERDICT. AS FOR THE FEE FOR THE MORGUE ODERO IS INTERNATIONAL AND HAS CHILDREN ALL OVER THE WORLD TO WHOM THE FINANCIAL ASPECT OF THIS LONG LOOMING COURT CASE IS PEANUTS TOO!!! THE EXHUMATION OF MY DADS BODY WAS NECESSARY AND WE DON’T REGRET IT AT ALL.!!! MY FATHER WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY PROUD OF HIS THREE WIVES PLUS HIS CHILDREN FOR FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT. I HOPE THAT ANSWERS YOUR CONCERNS “MR KEVIN.”
Kevin, I think you are a gentleman for letting this rest as the wound is still so fresh and any negative comments even if unintentional can cause a lot of emotional damage. Pole sana Josephine.
Mama Peres l think you are loosing you mind no wonder my father left you in Kano many years back. if you can say that you never seen my mother for 40yrs the you are sure mad. mama Helida is the first wife as for you, you were 3rd in line and as my father said she never wanted you, you forced yourshelf on him and my grand father forced my dad to marry you and when he decided to leave that mady place to move his first wife Helida he left you there. The house is almost falling down on you and the game you are playing is for mama helida to build you a house why should she she did not ask you to force youself on her man. Why did you not find your own husband? Ayub Migwala and Michael Adede Migwala what you did to my dad with the life style he lead to carry his body on a tractor only god can forgive you has the family we will never forgive and l pray when your turn comes it should be worse than my father. My father never spoke to you and now that he is dead l understand why you are evil. i will make sure i use every penny l earn to make sure justice is done. you call yourself a man of God? you are a devil in disquise.
Just to add to what have put down, well the fact is where my father is burried is imaterial the fact that he was burried at night is just not right and with no prayers nobody in the luo land has ever been burried at night even a premature baby you don’t burry somebody at night with a batch of changa people. that is what Ayubu Migwala done bought changa to some law class people and they decided to throw my father like a sack of potato in his the grave at night. even the so called woman ogonda who claims to be the wife both her and her children locked themselves in when this people were demanding to be paid has they were promised by Ayubu and co to be paid.The war is not were my father should be burried but for him to have a decent burrial that he deserve.
My condolences and best wishes to the family of Paul Isaack Odero. I hope that they will able to settle this grave matter amicably. To Isaac Odero (Son) – pole sana.
I recall my visit to the family town house at Milimani during our school days at Central primary school Kisumu.
Just to add to what Kevin321 has said, my dad deserve to be burried with dignity.If my dad would wake up from dead that mama Peres would not be in that home of Mzee. the woman and her kids that Mzee abandaned are sick and evil no wonder she is talking to herself or the devils she is seeing. this peres has lost kids that Mzee burried decently. How dare she burry my father at night she need to be shot dead and me Ruth l will be willing to pull the tricker.Mary Kinyanito my father gave you the eductation that you have now but he didn’t do that for you to punished him by hiring the thugs to torture my dads body by throwing stones at his coffin and surrounding his coffin with the arrows so he does not haunt you as your evil mother advised you to do. My dad will haunt you till you die.
Having been thru a similar situation. the family should refrain from airing the laundry here it is in your fathers best interest that such matters are sorted at home. also children never know adult stuff . the circumstances that led you father (rip) to marry any woman in his life has never and will never be the childrens topic of discussion so refrain from telling your step mom all uneccessary junk be respectful of your elders. spend more time at home sort those issues . we will not be able to help you only raise your blood pressure. Time heals alot
Wildkat do us a faviour and shut you mouth. You don’t know my father and who are you to tell us what is in my fathers interest. The fact is that mama Peres was abandaned by my father and he will be the first to say so and the evidence shows.For what she has done to my father no wonder my father neglected her. Am not ashamed and l repeat not ashamed to say she is evil and deserve to die after all the life she is leading is not worth living, when the whole world is condemning what she did burring my father at night. The woman is evil plus her children Mary Kinyanito being the ring leader as she is the one who hired thags and bought them changaa to hijack my fathers body and instructed these people to burry my father at night. WILDKAT HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF WHAT THIS LOW LIFE WOMAN DID TO MY FATHER HAPPENED TO YOUR FATHER? DO US A FAVIOUR AND KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT OF THIS, WE DON’T NEED YOUR ADVICE. GET IT.
Akinyi from the bottom of my heart though late but not too late I suppose.I empathise with you the the pain you as a family you ve gone and still go through. pole Sana. I have known your Dad since my childhood when we used to go church at Nyarenda AIC, I must admit that his death has shocked me alot.IKnew your father to be a wise,principled,firm bold and dedicated christian(AIC follower)Its there4 my prayer that a rational, comfortable and binding execution is made so that oyur family reains one one as before. O’wise may God give you strength,and wisdom as you go through this had time.MOS AHINYA
I don’t understand what all this tussle is all about but i believe that Mr.Odero deserve a descent burial being a respecteable man within the luo communinty and business spears.I can’t believe him being accorded such a nasty burail unless we are talking about another paul odero.
Believe it Mr Otieno, this is what was done to my father and that is why we requested the body to be exhumed so we can give him a proper burial. No one deserves to be treated the way my dad was treated and is still being treated. l have never seen or heard anything like it being buried at night with out any of the family present or a word of prayer, it makes my blood boils. And that is all thanks to the evil Mama Peres and Ayub Migwala and Mika Adede. Ayub who is a pastor at Nyarenda AIC church is the man behind all these. Why? Only him and god knows. l ask myself everyday what did my dad do wrong in this world to be subjected to all these? l feel sick when l think my father passed away in January and up till now not being laid to rest in peace. May the lord rest his soul in peace
pliz mary don’t cook food for your husband dr. Kenyanito to eat after burrying our dad at night.pliz if u win this case let mesee the body.keep the crude weapons away.you are a teacher stop behaving that waynowonder kids are burning others. Ua actions atma dads case speak
Thanks Mr Otieno paul. Flo akeyo,Odingo kawade for your sympathies. The case seems to be drawing to a close soon. Lets hope the family accepts the verdict and find a way to move from this awful,awful nightmare and my father is laid to rest with dignity. May the almighty God bless and bring some peace as the Oderos families will need him more than ever.
Akinyi !!
Poleni sana !! My Heartfelt condolence to the Odero`s Family and May the Almighty god rest his soul in Ezernal Peace Amen !! God is in control of evrything n the Devil will be Ashamed Ama ?
Prayers n Trust in the Lord !!! n for guys writting rubbish on this site juz fuck off !! n ve some respect!
It dint have to get to this.Going through this case and also others that face other families I tend to feel that we as a community should strengthen our community leadership like it used to be before, I remember the days when the “jaduon’g gweng”/Mlango” as others would reffer to him, used to be a respected elder within the village,generally what happened to the panel of elders drawn from different family heads that used to preside over such disputes??I think that we should re-define the Ker Ogallo led council to be more active on the ground than as it stands now where,personally I only hear about them in public forums,I dont know about you whether u share these sentiments with me,I feel such dispute and others like this or any other would be ressolved promptly if our elders were bold enough to take up there roles within the society and if we the younger generation were humble enough to respect their verdict,It is sad that the late Paul Odero has been subjected to this kind of treatement yet he was one of the prominent personalities we were so proud of having been born within our rich lands and upto date I havent heard any Luo elder raise their voice to speak on this issue,I think its time we put a stop to this,just a thought,how long would it have taken the elders to pass a verdict on where the late was to be burried??I believe they wouldnt have subjected the family to the long queing system in court of hearing,a date would have been set like before when we used to have the baraazas and the clan would be surmmoned where both parties would argue their case and a verdict passed on there and then,that way the family would have long given this Luo heroe a deserving send off and moved on with their lives.These are my personal opinions and I dont know about you but i feel we as a community are being let down by our elders,the same speed and dedication they used in telling us whether we should be circumcised or not should be the same they use to step in and act on such issues or should we always throw cameras all over for them to act??
I am back from Siberia and am intrugued by this story…….so who got to Keep the body?
My poles to the family, I hope they stopped the fight over their dad “wealth”
Seriously who won the case?
may the will of God be done
am really confused if this is the same man i used to play with his kids at Milimani,we used to be good neighbors just the fence separating us,Josephine Akinyi Odero yes she had a daughter called Josephine Odero,who left to UK after high school,Enock Odero, just want to know if is the same old man,Ahero Beer Distributor,if his the one then now iis when have come to learn of his death,i met Enock some time back in Mombasa thats where i live now,Josephine or Enock can write to me at bramuel@yahoo.com i need to get in touch with you guys..
Obiacha
You wanted to know who finally had the body of Mzee Paul Isaac Odero?Justice was served and his first wife Mama Helida Bonyo Odero of God worn the case and Mzee Paul Isaac Odero has finally been buried at his farm in God Abuoro, Muhoroni.
May his soul rest in peace.
This is the funniest case I have read so far in my so many years of life.
Quite a circus.
Jeez! You people can really be petty!
Over a dead body?
I love my dad, but I’d care less where his carcass ends.
no comments, RIP
It doesn’t matter where you are buried, what matters is where your going and what legacy ur leaving behind.
Indeed grandy we will remember you for the hard work and kind heart you had for all.RIP