Juja tycoon Christopher Mbote wives agree to bury him in first wife's property head facing second wife house

Christopher Mbote was a successful businessman in Juja. The two families have agreed that he should be buried between the homes he shared with his two wives instead of where the court said he should be buried, at the border of their respective holdings.

The burial location was determined by a group of surveyors who were hired by both families, and it was decided by everyone involved that the rich businessman, who was 78 years old, should be put to rest at a location that is conveniently accessible to both of his families.

"The court asked us to come to an agreement on a few things and find solutions to the problems that we had; we want to give our father a fitting farewell." Mercy Mbote, a second born in the first family, added, "We have decided that he would be buried on this piece; it is not the center of the property but the border between these two households."

Gitau Mbote, the son of the second wife, said that there are no problems with the businessman's burial, even though it is being planned by two different committees.

"Yes, there are two committees, and each one represents a family, but every evening they get together for a convergence meeting to exchange information and discuss how much everything is costing," he said.

The two homesteads are located inside the same complex; however, the gates to the compound are kept separate for each homestead. The dwellings are divided from one another by a modest fence, which was dismantled not too long ago in order to make room for the burial excavation.

Mbote will now be buried in the cemetery of his first wife, Margaret Waithira Mbote. His grave will be near the entrance to the cemetery of his second wife, Anne Njeri Mbote.

"I couldn't be happier that my husband will be laid to rest on this land, which he purchased when he was only a young man. "That is exactly what I was looking for," Waithira said.

Mbote will be laid to rest in the compound of his first wife, but his head will be turned so that it faces the home of his second wife. In Kikuyu culture, the dead person's head is usually placed so that it faces the direction the sun sets when they are buried.

Before Mbote and his first wife were married, the second wife, who was a teacher, wanted her husband to be buried in their rural house in Gatundu.

She had taught Mbote's children before they got married. However, in a judgment that many people believed to be Solomonic in nature, the Chief Magistrate of Thika ordered the two families to share their spouse even after he had passed away.

Elders of the Agikuyu community carried out a ceremony earlier in the day to plant a banana tree in the cemetery that had been excavated earlier in the day, prior to the second wife going to court to block the burial that was supposed to take place the previous week.

The elders, led by Nyoti wa Njogu and Wanarua Koigi, said that the important ritual must be done before digging a new grave to prevent other family members from dying suddenly.

"It is required that it be done." If you need to make another grave, you must first plant a banana tree in the first grave; otherwise, the first grave will "call or devour" another member of the family.

"Gikuyu picked a banana because it is a symbol of life; our infants are brought up with bananas, and that's why Gikuyu chose a banana," Koigi said. "The banana signifies life."

The man will be laid to rest on February 3, 2023.