A magistrate’s court has given the go-ahead for the burial of the late Kenya Primary Schools Head Teachers Association (KEPSHA) boss Johnson Matheka Nzioka to proceed despite a claim by a woman who says he was her father.

A ruling delivered by a magistrate, Festus Terer, yesterday vacated the earlier orders that had halted his burial and directed Lee Funeral Home to release the body to the family after collecting DNA samples.

The magistrate said Catherine Ndanu did not adduce any evidence to support her claim.

“She has neither produced her identity card nor any birth certificate to support the claims. The plaintiff has also not produced any iota of evidence to support that the deceased supported her financially. In the absence of this, I find that it cannot halt the burial of the deceased,” the magistrate ruled.

He, however, ordered that samples be taken for DNA to ascertain Ndanu’s claim.

Parental support

In court documents, Ndanu states that her mother was married to Nzioka through a Kamba customary marriage. The couple established their matrimonial home in Thika, where they lived for approximately eight years. She claims to have been born in 1997, and although her parents separated in 1999, Nzioka continued to provide both financial and emotional support until his death.

According to the court papers, Nzioka died in a fatal accident on February 16, 2025, and his body is currently at Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi.

Ndanu says she was shocked to learn that her father’s burial had been scheduled for February 28, 2025, at his rural home in Machakos County, without her involvement. She claims she tried to participate in the burial arrangements and requested to read a tribute during the ceremony. Additionally, in her court papers, she is seeking a DNA test to confirm her relationship with Nzioka to be conducted at a government chemist under the supervision of representatives from both sides of the suit before court.

The woman alleged that since Nzioka’s passing, the defendants and other family members have been organising the funeral without her participation, denying her status as his daughter and asserting that she has no right to be involved in the burial.

She averred that it is a matter of common knowledge even to the community that the deceased was her father, and the family was also aware of the same since before the death, he had introduced her to the wife and the other family member.

“The defendant and the other family members has completely refused to acknowledge and involve the plaintiff in any way whatsoever to a point of leaving her out of the burial arrangement committee such that she doesn’t know what plans there are for burial, causing the plaintiff great psychological torture and agony,” she has argued in her filings.

Ndanu wants the court to issue an order compelling the family of the deceased to recognise her as the deceased’s daughter and involve her in the funeral arrangements to the extent, but not limited to, reading her tribute to the deceased during the burial ceremony. She also wanted a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from burying the late Nzioka.

Undue delays

The defendants in the case however argue that they are not opposed to the woman attending the burial but object to delaying it, citing logistical challenges and financial implications.

Duncan Otieno, the lawyer representing the defendants, further stated that the woman has not provided any official documents, such as a birth certificate, to prove she is Nzioka’s daughter.

The woman, for her part, claims to have made several attempts to engage with the burial committee in an effort to resolve the issue amicably but has faced uncooperative behaviour from the defendant.

Having exhausted all informal avenues, Ndanu turned to legal channels, seeking court intervention.

On February 17, the National Chairman of the Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association (KEPSHA) Johnston Nzioka succumbed to injuries after he was involved in a road crash in Athi River on Sunday, February 16 afternoon.

Police said his four-wheel drive vehicle crashed into a moving trailer on the busy Nairobi-Mombasa highway as he swerved to avoid a head-on collision with an oncoming car. The body was moved to the mortuary pending autopsy and other investigations.