This archive report was first published on 14 July 2021.
Justice Lydiah Achode yesterday ordered the release of the body of millionaire pastor Musa Magodo, which had been lying at Umash Funeral Home, to his widow, Gladys Ingaiza, for burial at his matrimonial home in Gataka, Kajiado County.
The court's verdict ended a two-year battle between Ingaiza and Magodo's other widow, Gladys Nekesa.
According to the court, Magodo authored his own misfortune by failing to put his house in order, having customary marriages with both Ingaiza and Margaret Makungu, and later marrying Nekesa.
Although Magodo had ditched his traditional ways for Christianity, the judge ruled that members of his extended family and clan were at liberty to participate in the burial.
The court heard that the custom of the Bashirima Clan of the Tiriki sub-tribe of the Luhya required the clan to take over the burial ceremony and eventually bury the body in the first wife's homestead, which would be Makungu's.
However, Ingaiza argued that Makungu was not Magodo's wife, claiming that they came from the same clan and that it was therefore a taboo for them to marry.
Magodo's first wife, Makungu, testified that she married Magodo, lived with him for 15 years, and bore him four children, but they parted ways, and he took her back to her parents without divorcing her.
Justice Achode ruled that Magodo intended to divorce Makungu but did not see it through, and that he still valued Makungu and Nekesa, as evidenced by informing them of his health when he got sick.
Despite their separation, the judge found that Magodo still held a special place for Makungu and Nekesa.
However, the judge ruled that Ingaiza should be the one to arrange for the burial as she was by Magodo's side from the time he got ill in 2004 until his death.
The judge also directed that a DNA sample should be extracted should there be a contest on who Magodo's children are and who should inherit his estate.
