We have been told verbally and in writing that the late Mzee James Wuod Maggero never liked the idea of bodies being transported to Kenya for burial because of the huge wastage of money in the process. According to Dagmar, Maggero’s wife:
“James felt very strongly about not sending bodies of deceased persons back home. Those who knew James would know that…. He felt that it was wrong to collect lots of money just to send home a body with the result that nothing remained for those back home in Kenya.”
In 1982, a Kenyan Engineer from the Luo community called Obiero Onyango died at Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm. After the announcement of his death was delayed by Barbro Onyango (his Swedish wife) with one day, the woman decided that the late Obiero would be buried in Sweden.
When the late Maggero heard about the plan, he immediately swung into action, not just to stop the burial of Obiero’s body in Sweden but to ensure that the late Obiero’s remains were transported to Kenya. At that time, Kenyans met repeatedly at Ropsten to discuss the case. In the end, Maggero’s group won and Obiero was eventually transported to Kenya for burial. His body was collected by Dr. Nyawanda Onyango who came all the way from Kenya just to pick up the body. If some people on the other side of this debate had been present in Sweden, Maggero could have been in big trouble.
In 1987, Evans Angiela, a Kenyan, died of aneurism of the aorta in Stockholm. Funds were needed to transport his body to Nyakach in Kenya for burial and once again, Mr. Maggero was in the thick of things. Maggero was the Chairman of the “Angiela Funeral Committee” and one of the meetings was even attended by the late Andrew Ngumba, a former Kenyan MP who was by then in exile in Sweden.
As the Chairman, Maggero was not only instrumental in ensuring that enough funds were raised to transport the body of Angiela to Kenya but also sent a clear message that burial “at home” was part of the Luo culture which needed to be respected. During mobilizations for the fund raising, it was Maggero who sent out letters to Kenyans (SMS had not been invented), a responsibility which underlined his solidarity with the Angiela committee’s agenda and also demonstrated the late Mzee’s commitment in what he was involved in.
When Mr. Opwapo Ogae died, Maggero was once again catapulted into action, taking over as the Chairman of the “Opwapo Ogae Committee” which then embarked on a hectic fundraising to transport the late Opwapo’s body to Kenya for burial. This time round, Dagmar was present and Mr. Maggero donated 2.000 kr at the harambee. This was a huge amount of money to have been donated by an individual who was opposed to the idea of bodies being transported to Kenya for burial.
Instead of positioning himself as “Chairman” of the Opwapo and other Committees, Maggero could have created a debate by using Opwapo and other deaths to argue that the practice of transporting bodies to Kenya should be abolished.
Maggero was very outspoken and addressed issues from a position of authority and great wisdom. The Mzee had ample opportunity to convert harambees for dead bodies into platforms for cultural reforms but did exactly the opposite by supporting them.
The Mzee’s participation and contribution in the Opwapo and other harambees undermines claims that he was opposed to the practice of body transportation to Kenya for burial unless some new logic or empirical data can be introduced into the debate by protagonists who have painted him as a radical cultural reformist who endorsed his own cremation after banning the viewing of his own body.
The petrol that has been fuelling this debate from a different point of view opposed to that of Maggero’s Swedish family has been spewing from Maggero’s own actions when he was alive.
After the death of Mr. Opwapo Ogae in the early 90s, a new generation of Kenyans (the multi-party generation) was also arriving in Sweden. It is members of this generation that picked up from where Mr. Maggero and company had left using the same methods of fund raising which Maggero had helped establish.
A HISTORY OF COMMUNAL INVLOVEMENT IN KENYAN FUNERALS IN STOCKHOLM
When Mamma Colins died in a mysterious train accident, critical issues were raised around her death, just like in the Maggero case. Kenyans contributed money so that his brother, Samson and son, Colins, could travel to Sweden to attend the funeral and they did. Kenyans traced Colins (whom nobody new about) and who did not even exist in the Swedish data base. If a parallel could be drawn, Colins is the equivalent of Maggero’s son in Kenya with the difference being that Maggero’s son is well known.
Although he was “lost in Kenya”, Colin’s father was a British national and it took me four years to convince the British government (with documents) that Colins was a British citizen before he was granted a British passport. He now lives in London.
Mamma Colin was buried in Sweden without a finger being raised about her final resting place because her family was present and there was an agreement within the family that she be buried in Sweden even though she was never officially married to her white spouse. We were involved, not as meddlers in a family affair but as mourners after death struck within our community. The family managed the whole show and everybody was comfy.
When Mwangi (a Kenyan who was working at the Canadian Embassy) died, his wife and son traveled to Sweden to collect the body. Kenyans met and contributed cash for them to travel. The family decided that the body had to be taken to Kenya and this wish was respected without arguments. Members of the Kikuyu community were leading the campaign to get their next of kin to Sweden and to raise funds. There was no controversy.
Two Kenyan ladies who died of illness in Stockholm were buried in Sweden because that is what their families wanted. There were serious consultations with their families in Kenya and relatives in Sweden in the run up to their burials. One of the ladies was married to a Swede and the family gave the Swede a go ahead to bury her in Sweden in accordance with Lhuya culture which dictates that a woman’s burial place is in the land of her husband. Kenyans sent Gerry Midenyo to consult with her mother in Kenya and she gave a written consent that her daughter be buried in Sweden. Kenyans met and mourned collectively. There was no haranguing.
When Achacha (who worked at Karolinska hospital) died in Stockholm in 2004, his coffin was STOPPED on its way to the grave at Järfälla (in Stockholm) by the late John Peter Omiti after the church service. The family in Kenya had not agreed that he be buried in Sweden although this is what the son and daughter (next of kin) wanted. After pleading with the two children in one of the most dramatic cases to have been witnessed in Stockholm in recent times, Achacha’s burial was cancelled and the body was driven back to the mortuary AFTER the last prayers in church. Two weeks later, Achacha’s body was transported to Kenya and buried in his ancestral village. We met and discussed the circumstances collectively, not at Continental Hotel but in Achacha’s house.
Before the death of Maggero, Arther Opot passed away in Sweden. Kenyans brought his wife all the way from Kenya to pick up the body. The community raised cash and Opot’s body was taken to Kenya. We met, discussed the circumstances and mourned collectively.
When Ajigo ( a Journalist) died, his remains were taken to Kenya because both the family members in Kenya and Ajigo’s Swedish wife came to an agreement that his body would be taken to Kenya. She followed the body together with Ajigo’s son and buried her husband. We never heard of Ajigo’s wife undergoing any rituals currently being peddled by dregs of the online universe because her Swedish culture was put into consideration and respected accordingly. Ajigo had no will that he be buried in Kenya. Ajigo’s family was happy that his Swedish wife had respected their most important culture in the situation by accepting to bring the body home. I don’t have to mention the case of Ayieko Singoro and the case of Rose because the main point needs to be made.
Kenyans have died in Stockholm before and Kenyans have been involved in the discussions so the Maggero case is not new. To try and muzzle the Kenyan community from discussing the Maggero case or to try and declare Kenyan meetings on the Maggero issue “illegal” is patently otiose.
When a Kenyan from the Kikuyu ethnic group passes away, members of the Kikuyu community take the lead in the discussions because they understand what the culture says. The same applies to a Lhuya, a Kamba and so fourth. It is not therefore surprising that Luos have taken the lead in the Maggero case.
In all the above cases, there has been no controversy (except in the Achacha case) because all families have been involved in the decision making process.
The involvement of Kenyans in the Maggero case is therefore not a novel idea that was born when Maggero passed away. This is the “tradition” in Stockholm. For the umpteenth time, the Maggero discussion is not about his final resting place, cremation or infringement of family privacy. It was about his “next of kin” in KENYA who were shown the “red card” when it came to discussions about his funeral as if this family did not exist.
Okoth Osewe
