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Fracas at burial of child who died as parents waited for ‘God’s miracle’


There was drama during a burial in Nakuru on Wednesday when angry residents stormed the home of a  family accused of watching their child die as they waited for God’s intervention.

The residents of Mzee wa Nyama area attacked the family as they buried their 14-year-old child at the Nakuru North cemetery.

The melee caused commotion that delayed the child’s burial.

The family was accused of denying the boy medical attention despite his poor health because they wanted him to be healed through a divine intervention.

SEVEN CHILDREN DEAD

Residents claimed that the child’s death brought to seven the total number of children who have died in the family as a result of being denied medical attention.

“We find it so illogical that they refuse to take the children to hospital yet after they die, they take them to the mortuary. Their faith is now affecting livelihoods of innocent children who are dying out of their parents’  religion,” said Mr Anthony Thiongo, a neighbour.

The family are members of the Kanitha Wa Ngai church in Mzee wa Nyama, Pipeline area.

Neighbours accused the family of locking up their sick children in houses, believing that they will be healed through prayers.

During the confrontation, the parents were unapologetic for their son’s death terming it as the “will of God” and referring to the Biblical analogy of Job for self-consolation.

“The death was God’s will which I cannot go against, even Job of the bible lost all his children,” said the father.

GOD’S PLAN

When matters got hotter at the funeral, the father got irritated and fled the scene, insisting he loved his son and that the death was God’s plan.

However, James Karanja, the man’s brother complained he was not informed of his nephew’s death or burial plans, and only learnt later from the neighbours.

Karanja said earlier he had been forced to take the boy to hospital after he found him locked in the house.

“He had been locked up in the house and I was forced to take him to hospital by force once when I passed by and found him very ill. I was not involved in the burial plans and only learnt of my nephew’s demise through neighbours,” said Mr Karanja, the deceased’s uncle.

The residents have also accused the local chief for giving a nod to the child’s burial in secrecy after realizing residents were unhappy with the child’s death.

‘SECRECY’

“It was done in secrecy and that is why we wonder how the chief issued the burial permit despite the unclear circumstances surrounding the death,” Mr thiongo said.

The boy is reported to have been suffering from Tuberculosis beginning last week.

The residents now want the government to intervene and save the remaining children in the family.