NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 29 – The parents of late KCB executive Rosemary Chemutai Koech have explained why they proceeded to bury their daughter at night, despite a court order seeking to stop her interment at their family home in Chepseon, Kericho County.
Speaking during a memorial service for Rosemary, her mother, Beatrice Koech, said the family was determined to give their daughter the dignity they believed she deserved and provide a place where her four children could easily visit and mourn her.
The burial on Friday night came hours after the Milimani Commercial Magistrate’s Court issued interim orders stopping the interment without the involvement and consent of Rosemary’s husband, Kevin Migwe Kimwatu.
The dispute had centred on where the 40-year-old KCB Bank Head of Data Protection should be buried, with her husband seeking to have her laid to rest at his ancestral home in Matasia, Ngong, Kajiado County, while her parents wanted her buried at their home in Chepseon.
But speaking during the memorial, Beatrice said the family had chosen to lay Rosemary to rest on their land because they believed it offered her children a place of comfort and connection with their mother.
“We are very excited that we have managed to give Chemu the dignity that she deserved and lead her to rest where she will continue to rest happily and where she will be cared and loved together with her children,” she said.
Beatrice said that while Kalenjin traditions recognise that a married woman belongs to the family into which she was married, she believed there was also justification for Rosemary to be buried at her parents’ home.
“In Kalenjin, we know that the children belong to where she was married but it is also okay for Chemu to be buried where she received comfort, where her children can come when they are not very comfortable or when they feel they are missing their mother,” she said.
She said the decision was informed largely by the welfare of Rosemary’s children, arguing that they should have the freedom to visit their mother whenever they missed her.
“They say, ‘We want to go where our mother is.’ If those children were to receive what Chemu was receiving on the other end, where would they run to if we buried Chemu there,they would think there’s nobody else ?” she asked.
“They are little children. But where she is now, they have the option to come and demand to come where their mother is.We will not leave the children despite the misunderstanding that is currently there ”
Beatrice said the family remained committed to taking care of Rosemary’s children and hoped they would grow up knowing that their mother’s family remained part of their lives.
She also described Rosemary as a daughter who had been deeply loved by her family and thanked relatives, friends and the church for standing with them during the difficult period.
Reflecting on her daughter’s death, Beatrice said she had struggled with questions about whether she could have done anything differently to prevent the tragedy.
“At some point, I kept asking myself, could it be because of some mornings I failed to go for Mass, perhaps if I had gone for Mass that day, maybe God would have protected her?” she said.
She compared her grief to the biblical account of Mary mourning her brother Lazarus, saying her Christian faith had helped her come to terms with the loss.
She said the family had accepted that Rosemary had completed her purpose on earth and that her physical remains were only a part of what she had left behind.
“The body remains in our hearts, in the hearts of our dear children, her family and all of us,” Beatrice said.
She also recalled the sacrifices she made while raising her children, saying Rosemary had understood the pressures her mother faced while working and caring for the family.
Beatrice said she often had to rush from work to school functions and visiting days, sometimes arriving shortly before the scheduled closing time.
Despite this, she said Rosemary never complained and always trusted that her mother would show up.
“She never ever complained that, ‘Mommy, why did you come?’ But she believed I will come,” she said.
Rosemary’s father, Paul Koech, also defended the decision to bury his daughter at the family home, saying the land where she was laid to rest belonged to her.
Koech, who said his daughter’s death had taken a toll on him both emotionally and physically, recalled the close relationship they shared.
He remembered how Rosemary and her siblings cared for him when he was hospitalised, saying she would repeatedly encourage him to recover and return home.
“She was a good girl,” he said.
Koech said the decision to bury Rosemary at the family home had been reached after consultations with people close to the family and was fully supported by them.
“Where Chemu is resting right now is her land. Where she is resting now is her land. That is a portion of the land,” he said.
He said the family could in future build a house on the property where Rosemary’s children could stay whenever they visited.
Koech also rejected suggestions that Rosemary’s children were unfamiliar with the family home, saying they had regularly visited and stayed with their grandparents.
He said the children had spent time with them shortly before their mother’s death and had continued visiting during school holidays.
“So even after she is gone, we are not going to leave those children. Those children are ours and we will take care of them,” he said.
Koech further said Rosemary’s husband would remain welcome at the family home and could visit whenever he wished.
His remarks come amid a bitter legal dispute between the family and Kimwatu, who moved to court seeking to stop the burial at Chepseon and have Rosemary buried at his ancestral home.
The husband’s case was partly triggered by his discovery that KCB employment records had listed Rosemary’s sister, Judy Koech-Oyamo, and her eldest son, Charles Migwe Kimwatu, as her next of kin rather than him.
Kimwatu argued that the corporate next-of-kin records could not extinguish his rights as Rosemary’s husband of 13 years.
The court subsequently issued interim orders restraining the family and other parties from proceeding with the burial without his involvement and consent.
The family, however, proceeded with the interment on Friday night, with Beatrice and her husband now maintaining that their daughter has been laid to rest on land they consider hers and in a place where her children can remain connected to her.
The dispute is expected to return to court on Monday, August 31, where the parties will argue over the orders and the circumstances surrounding Rosemary’s burial.
For the family, however, the immediate priority is to mourn a daughter they described as deeply loved while ensuring that her four children continue to receive care and support.
Beatrice said the family would remain united despite the disagreement surrounding the funeral.
“We will continue to be a family beyond this little discomfort that is going on,” she said.
