‘Dare you bury me without land title on my coffin!’

The body of a woman who died three weeks ago is still lying in a Nyeri mortuary after her husband refused to bury her for fear of getting entangled in an alleged curse
 over family land

Esther Wambui died October 4 while receiving treatment at Mathari General Hospital in Nyeri, but three weeks later there seems to be no plans to have her buried.

Peter Njagi 68, her husband of 41 years has denounced her corpse, over what he says is a curse allegedly passed onto his late wife by his mother-in-law.

The curse allegedly involves the dispute over the ownership of a 0.75 acres piece of land, being contested by his in-laws and a pastor.

Trouble started brewing in 2009 when Esther Kamuyu, the mother-in-law, registered the land under the name of her son Charles Macharia.

Later in the year, the title deed mysteriously disappeared from a box where it had been kept in Kamuyu’s house. Before her death later in the year, Kamuyu allegedly demanded that the land title must be placed on her coffin before any burial could take place.

Like her daughter’s body currently lying in the mortuary, Kamuyu’s burial was delayed until the neighbours persuaded the family to ignore the said curse and undertake the burial.

In 2011, a pastor from the neighbourhood who had allegedly bought the land arrived and started fencing the contentious piece of land.

Wambui moved to court and got an order restraining the pastor from fencing the land, until the dispute was amicably resolved by the court.

 The case is still pending.

Njagi says that his late wife made remarks similar to those of her mother at her death.

“She repeated the dreadful words. That she should not be buried without the land title placed on top of her coffin,” says Njagi.

And although he has ample land to bury his wife, Njagi claims that doing so would put the lives of his own children in danger over the alleged curse.

“I do not want to finish my own family. My wife is gone and I am not ready to sacrifice my own children,” he says.

John Kihara the pastor who allegedly bought the land, however, insists that he bought the land legitimately and termed the alleged curse as malicious.

 “I am a pastor. A man of God and I am wondering why these people want to tarnish my name. If Njagi wants to take possession of the land, let him repay me the money I paid for it,” says Kihara

-standardmedia