Monday, October 20, 2003
Row over Wamalwa clothes
By LUCAS BARASA
and GEORGE OMONSO
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Ms Damaris Mutenyo, a worker at Michael Wamalwa's home in Kitale, takes away the VP's clothes, which the clan refused to share. Photo by Jared Nyataya |
A traditional ceremony to mark 40 days since the death of Vice-President Michael Wamalwa ended in disarray when the family and his Baengele clan disagreed over the distribution of his clothes.
Mr Wamalwa's widow, Yvonne Nambia, rejected plans to have her 'inherited', saying she was not ready.
It all started at 6am when Mrs Wamalwa produced the clothes at their Milimani home, Kitale, for distribution to close clan members as per tradition.
But the members complained that that was not all the VP's clothes and demanded that more be produced.
They collected the clothes and dumped them on a sofa set and threatened to boycott the ceremony until all the shirts, jackets, mosquito nets and towels were produced.
Earlier, the clan members had in an unsigned letter to Mrs Wamalwa asked her to arrange for a meeting to choose two people to take care of Mr Wamalwa's house.
She interpreted the request to mean plans to inherit her, which she flatly rejected.
She was also asked to give details of Mr Wamalwa's sickness until his death.
The clan which hit the headlines because of its controversial requirements following the VP's death, demanded that a cow be slaughtered for them.
They also demanded that maize donated by well-wishers be sold and the proceeds given to them, the expansion of the VP's three-acre plot to measure at least 14 acres, and that the VP's mother, Esther Nekesa, be asked to leave the Milimani home.
They also told Mrs Wamalwa to correct the poor media publicity the clan was receiving.
A member demanded a grey jacket he said the VP had been photographed in, but which was not among the clothes produced for distribution.
Mrs Wamalwa said she ignored some of the traditional rites such as bathing in a river and washing the VP's clothes two days after burial because "I am a Christian and I don't believe in those things."
Mrs Wamalwa said her relationship with the VP's siblings was good and criticised those saying it wasn't.
Speaking after the ceremony, known in Bukusu as Sisinini, the caretakers of the VP's Kitale home, Mr Alfayo Muganda, Mr Maurice Juma and Mr Julius Ochwayo said it was not mandatory that the clothes be shared out.
Sisinini will be followed by another ceremony called Khukhalaka Kimikoye, to forget the bad and good of the VP.
Meanwhile, Mrs Wamalwa said she planned to set up a welfare foundation in the VP's honour. She was looking for a house in Nairobi to settle in before setting up the Michael Wamalwa Foundation, which would be incorporated with her Touch Africa Organisation.
It would assist needy children with school fees and address problems affecting women.
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