Politics

A Nairobi court on has issued orders stopping the cremation of fallen Kibra MP Ken Okoth until the case filed by Ann Muthoni, Ken Okoth’s ‘second wife’ in court is heard.

The court also stopped burial until the case is heard and determined.

Ann Thumbi sued on behalf of her son, whom she says is Okoth’s.

Through lawyer Elkana Mogaka Thumbi, Muthoni sued Okoth’s mum Angeline Okoth and wife Monica Okoth along with Lee funeral home.

“The mother and wife have deliberately and unfortunately excluded me from the funeral and burial arrangements of Okoth,” the petition reads.

Muthoni said she only learnt of the arrangements from the media.

According to Muthoni, the family has unilaterally decided to have the body cremated “among other reasons to primarily destroy any evidence of her son’s lineage to Okoth”.

The order stopping the burial and cremation was issued by Senior Principal Magistrate GA Mmasi.

The case will be heard on August 9.

It was speculated, and it is finally happening! Did you ever think that women will emerge claiming to be fallen Kibra MP Ken Okoth’s ‘wives’? Well, his legacy might be the reason.

As push and pull on whether Ken Okoth’s body should be cremated or buried goes on, a fresh controversy has rocked the family as a second ‘wife’ emerged with his five-year-old son.

According to a local daily, the woman, a Jubilee-nominated MCA, approached Okoth’s family on Tuesday evening and demanded that her son be recognised before his ‘father’ is interred.

The son, whose pictures with Okoth have been shared online, is well known among Okoth’s close circle and family members.

The MP’s European widow, Monica, is said to have got wind of the boy and opposed the idea of publicly recognising him. She and Okoth had no biological children but adopted three.

The widow is said to have protested attempts to have him mentioned in the MP’s funeral advertisement.

The advert was to be published in Wednesday’s dailies, but the push and pull on whether the child should be listed delayed the plan.

Opposition chief Raila Odinga on Wednesday chaired a crisis meeting with the family but only told the press, “The body will be handled in the same way as that of Kenneth Matiba.”

Okoth and his secret lover are said to have met in 2011 while the woman was working as a nurse at the Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, before she was nominated to the county assembly during the 2017 General Election.

At one time, the MP is said to have stayed together with the woman at a house along Ngong Road in Nairobi.

The revelations came just hours after Okoth’s mother Angelina Ajwang’ warned that her son did not father any child outside of her marriage with Monica.

“Ken did not sire any child. I know many women will come out to claim they have at least a child with Ken,” she told a local television station on Tuesday.

The MCA, who has the support of a number of Okoth’s kinsmen, has been blocked from burial preparations, which close family members describe as ‘unfortunate’.

On Wednesday, there was a public viewing at Lee Funeral Home and community memorial service at Starehe Boys Centre and School.

On Thursday, the human rights sector will hold another memorial service at the University of Nairobi from 2pm to 6 pm.

The body will then be flown to Kabondo, Homa Bay county, where there will be another funeral service at Got Rateng’ ground in Kabondo Kasipul constituency.