A burial in Vihiga County turned chaotic on Saturday after relatives of a 71-year-old woman, who was being laid to rest, stormed the funeral demanding a pending dowry of Sh140 and two cows.
Four men, who had reportedly traveled from the deceased's ancestral home in Maseno, interrupted the burial demanding that the dowry be settled before the burial took place as was the tradition in their community.
What started as an argument, turned for the worst with mourners watching in silence the dramatic events unfold, with the relatives threatening to ferry away the casket to their ancestral home.
The men said that her late husband had always dodged them whenever the dowry issue, which had been negotiated some decades ago, cropped up.
“Our in-laws have refused to pay the dowry, yet they want to be given burial rights. Each time the dowry matter came up, the man always had an excuse. He kept avoiding her parents and when he died, some of us never followed up the matter. He engaged us in hide and seek games,” said Kevogo, a brother to Ms Sabeti quoted by the Standard.
However, the issue was settled after intervention by elders who promised to help settle the payment with the burial being set for the following day.
Earlier in July, two brothers were killed and their bodies burned by irate mourners after they attempted to stop the burial of a relative due to a land dispute. The two were accused of having used witchcraft to kill the deceased so as to inherit the land.
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