Juja: Women agree to bury husband in first wife’s compound, head facing second wife’s home

The body of the late Juja businessman, Christopher Mbote, will be buried between two houses belonging to his two wives, and not at the boundary of their properties as court had ordered, the two families have agreed.

The grave site was demarcated by a team of surveyors hired by both families and all parties agreed that the 78-year-old wealthy businessman should be laid to rest in a place where both families can easily access the grave site.

“The court wanted us to agree on a few things and solve the issues that we had; we want to give our dad a decent send off. We have agreed that he will be buried on this portion, it is not the center of the land but the boundary between these two houses,” Mercy Mbote, a second born in the first family told Citizen Digital.

Gitau Mbote, a son of the second wife said despite having two committees running the burial preparations, there are no hiccups towards the burial of the late businessman.

“Yes, there are two committees each representing a family but they hold a consolidation meeting every evening to compare notes and to share the costs,” he highlighted.

The two homesteads are within the same compound but they don’t share the entrances. The houses are separated by a small fence that has since been cleared to allow the digging of the grave.

Mbote will now be buried in the compound of the first wife, Margaret Waithira Mbote, but next to the entrance of the second wife, Anne Njeri Mbote.

“I’m happy that my husband will be buried here, in a property that he bought when he was young. That is what I wanted,” Waithira said.

Even though Mbote will lay in the first wife’s compound, his head will be facing the second wife’s house. According to Kikuyu traditions, the dead is buried with his/her head facing the direction of where the sun sets.

The second wife - who used to teach Mbote’s children before they got married - wanted her husband to be buried at his rural home in Gatundu. But in what was seen by many as a Solomonic ruling, Thika’sChief Magistrate ordered the two families to share their husband even on death.

Earlier in the day, Agikuyu elders performed a ritual to plant a banana tree in the grave that was dug before the second wife went to court to stop the burial that was scheduled to take place last week.

Led by Nyoti wa Njogu and Wanarua Koigi, the elders said the important ritual must be performed before another grave is dug to avoid more sudden deaths from the family members.

“It must be performed. If you have to do another grave, then you must plant a banana tree in the first grave or else that grave will “call or eat” another family member. The banana represents life, our babies are brought up with bananas and that’s why Gikuyu chose a banana, it’s a sign of life,” Koigi narrated.

The polygamist will be buried on Friday, February 3, 2022.