This archive report was first published on 11 July 2021.
On Saturday, a family in Taita Taveta county held a funeral service for Samuel Mnene, a former National Treasury accountant who had passed away due to Covid-19 complications at a hospital in Mombasa a week prior. However, the ceremony took place without the deceased's body, as a court order barred the family from burying him on the disputed land.
According to area police boss Gifinalis Baraza, the plaintiff had obtained a court order in Taveta Law Courts on Friday evening, a day before the burial. The order was served to the family on Saturday morning, hours before the funeral.
"I was shocked to learn that the court orders were issued in the evening," Baraza said. "We issued the orders to the family at 7am on Saturday when they were about to start the funeral," he added.
Despite the absence of the deceased's body, hundreds of mourners, including politicians, attended the funeral service. One of the mourners noted, "Deaths are difficult and where the body is not present, can be especially hard. Having a funeral service can help heal during the grieving process."
Following the turn of events, the family had to quickly look for an alternative site to bury the remains of their kin. The County Security Committee has recently decried rising cases of land conflicts involving private landowners and residents.
