Why body of former Navy Commander is stuck in city hospital
The family of retired Navy Commander Eliud Simon Mbilu was on Friday barred from collecting his body from MP Shah Hospital in Nairobi for burial.
Burial plans for Maj-Gen (Rtd) Mbilu were thrown into disarray yet again, four months after he died, after his children were served with a court order sought by their stepmother restraining them from collecting the body.
The body has been lying in the mortuary since his death on April 30, due to a drawn-out family dispute over the administration of his multi-billion-shilling estate.
WINNING COURT CASE
The family had planned to bury him at his Mulango Village home in Kitui County on Saturday after winning a court case against his second wife, Mrs Eunice Mbilu.
According to court documents, MP Shah Hospital withheld the general’s body after his widow refused to clear medical bills amounting to Sh10.3 million.
This prompted his eldest daughter, Ms Marie Kasyoka Mbilu, to sue her stepmother on May 17. She filed the case at the High Court’s Family Division in Nairobi, seeking orders to withdraw funds for settling the hospital bill and organising the burial.
On July 12, Ms Mbilu won the case.
However, after the medical bills were settled and burial plans finalised, Ms Mbilu and her siblings were shocked on Friday when they were denied access to the body yet again. There was a new order blocking the release of the body.
