A Nairobi court has stopped the burial of KCB head of Data Protection Rosemary Chemutai Kimwatu and barred the removal of her body from Lee Funeral Home following a dispute between her husband and her family over her burial.
Senior Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi on Friday, August 28, 2026, certified the matter urgent and issued a temporary injunction restraining the defendants, their relatives, servants, agents or employees from removing Rosemary’s remains from Lee Funeral Home pending the inter partes hearing of the application.
The court further restrained them from interring or inhuming Rosemary’s remains without the consent and involvement of her husband, Kevin Migwe Kimwatu. The defendants and anyone acting on their behalf have also been barred from making any funeral arrangements or conducting the burial without Kimwatu’s involvement pending the hearing.
The orders arise from a suit filed at the Milimani Commercial Magistrate Court by Kimwatu against her parents, sister and KCB Bank Kenya Limited. Kimwatu moved to court following a disagreement over who should take custody of his late wife’s body and where she should be buried.
According to his witness statement, Kimwatu says he married Rosemary on August 24, 2013, at St. Austin’s Catholic Church in Nairobi and that the couple had four children. Rosemary died on August 21, 2026 and her body is being preserved at Lee Funeral Home. Kimwatu wants to bury his wife at his ancestral home in Matasia, Ngong Sub-County in Kajiado County. However, he claims Rosemary’s parents and sister have locked him out of the burial arrangements and intend to bury her at their home in Kericho County. Kimwatu told the court that although he and Rosemary had been separated for about four months before her death, she had requested to return to their matrimonial home and he had agreed. He says she died before she could return.
The dispute intensified after Kimwatu allegedly learnt on August 26 that Lee Funeral Services would only release Rosemary’s body to her sister. He claims the funeral home relied on a letter issued by Rosemary’s employer, KCB Bank, on August 25 concerning the release and collection of the body. According to Kimwatu, the letter identified Rosemary’s sister and his son, Charles Migwe Kimwatu, as next of kin.
Kimwatu has accused the bank of improperly inserting itself into what he considers a private family matter, arguing that questions surrounding next of kin should not allow the employer to determine funeral and mortuary arrangements. He further expressed fears that Rosemary could be buried in Kericho without his involvement and that of their children, prompting him to seek urgent court intervention.
In the orders issued Friday, Magistrate Mwangi effectively froze all burial arrangements, directing that Rosemary’s remains should not be removed from Lee Funeral Home and that no burial should take place without Kimwatu’s consent and involvement.
The application is to be served on the respondents, with the matter scheduled for mention on August 31, 2026, for further directions.
