The burial row over Mzee James Kinani Mburu, father to Kiambu Deputy Governor Rosemary Njeri Kirika, has taken a new twist after part of his family appealed a High Court order directing that he be laid to rest in Gilgil, Nakuru County, instead of his ancestral home in Murang’a.
In the event that Ms Kirika, together with Ides Wairimu Mburu, Joyce Muthoni Mburu, Hannah Wanjiku Mburu and Antony Kinani Mburu, went ahead with the Gilgil burial, lawyer Danstan Omari warned in court filings that he would ask the Court of Appeal to order the exhumation of the body.
The body of Mzee Mburu, who died in November 2024, had been lying at the AIC Kijabe Mission Hospital mortuary until September 17, 2025, when he was buried in Gilgil.
The body of 90-year-old Mburu Kinani has been lying at AIC Kijabe Mission Hospital mortuary since he died in November 2024.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
In fresh evidence filed at the High Court on September 22, 2025, Geoffrey Ng’ang’a Mburu and four others from the deceased’s first family revealed that the burial had already taken place. Geoffrey now wants to be allowed to exhume and rebury his father at Gatanga in Murang’a, next to his late mother’s grave.
During earlier proceedings, Geoffrey, through lawyers Omari and Stanley Kinyanjui, argued that under Agikuyu customary law, a man must be buried at the homestead of his first family.
Three cultural experts who testified before the High Court supported this position, warning that disregarding tradition could bring misfortune to the family.
In their appeal, the first family is asking the court to overturn the September 16, 2025, ruling by Justice Helene Namisi, who allowed the second family to inter Mzee Mburu in Gilgil.
Justice Namisi had set aside an earlier June 12, 2025, decision by Magistrate Gerald Gitonga that had stopped the Gilgil burial.
“The resting place of the late Mburu Kinani shall be at his farm in Gilgil, Nakuru County, next to the grave of his late wife, Magdalene Waithera,” Justice Namisi ruled.
She further directed that the burial be conducted in a manner that respected both the deceased’s Christian faith and his Agikuyu heritage, while instructing the second family to accommodate the first family in the ceremony.
The first family, however, insists that the decision ignored Agikuyu customary practices, which require that a polygamous man be buried at the homestead of his first wife—in this case, at Gatanga, Murang’a, where Mzee Mburu’s first wife, Phelis Wanjiru Mburu, is buried.
Daughters of the deceased—Irene Wairimu, Joyce Muthoni, and Hannah Wanjiku—alongside his grandson Antony Kinani, sued Deputy Governor Kirika, Charles Vincent Waweru, Alice Wambui, Geoffrey Ng’ang’a, Regina Muthoni, Patrick Karanja (a clan elder), and other step-siblings seeking to enforce customary law.
Kiambu Deputy Governor Rosemary Njeri Kirika.
Photo credit: Pool
A clan witness, Gabriel Mwaniki, admitted during testimony that not all members attended the December 4, 2024, clan meeting where it was resolved that Mzee Mburu be buried in Gilgil rather than at his ancestral home.
The dispute, therefore, remains centered on one question: Should Mzee Mburu be laid to rest at Gatanga, Murang’a—his ancestral land—or in Gilgil, where the second family insists he had expressed a wish to be buried?
More than ten family members testified in court, sharply disputing claims that Mzee Mburu desired to be buried in Gilgil.
