The high and mighty descended on the home of the late politician William ole Ntimama for the burial ceremony. Those in attendance included President Uhuru Kenyatta, retired President Danile arap Moi, Cord leader Raila Odinga and a host of political luminaries.
But outside the venue, drama was unfolding away from red carpet as Kenyans from all walks of life paid their last respects to the late Narok North MP and arguably the king of Maasai politics.
A woman claiming to be the mother of George Kariuki Njoroge alias George Kariuki Ntimama, was fuming, foaming at the mouth as they attempted to gain entry to Ntimama’s Motonyi home.
Rose Odhiambo, who claimed she was Njoroge’s mother, condemned men who sire children out of wedlock after she and her son were denied access to the burial venue by security officers whom she accused of bias.
“I want to make this statement to those people who sire children outside marriage. We have a right to attend this funeral. This is unfair and unjust,” she charged.
The closer the two came to the funeral was along the main road where they could only watch the ceremony and listen to tributes from family members on giant TV screens outside the huge tents erected in the late Ntimama’s Motonyi home.
Mourners and boda boda riders who milled around the two could not stop taking pictures as it became apparent they were not getting into the well-guarded venue.
Kariuki lamented that, “This was my father and I want the world to see the kind of injustice they (family) are perpetrating. I have a right to attend the funeral of a man I knew to be my father, but as you see, the police have barred us from accessing the home.”
Kariuki had last week moved to court seeking orders to stop the burial on claims that he was a biological son to the fallen Maasai political kingpin. But his efforts to compel the family to carry out a DNA test before the burial did not yield fruit.
He submitted before the court that Ntimama’s family had refused to recognise him or allow him to participate in funeral preparations.
Kariuki had also asked the court to give an order stopping Ntimama’s widow, Dorcas Pedelei, or any other person from collecting the body from Lee Funeral Home until a DNA test was done to ascertain paternity.
However, the court dismissed his pleas and questioned why he had taken long to raise the paternity issue in court.
-standardmedia.co.ke
