The S. M. Otieno case, also known as the Otieno burial case, was a landmark legal case in Kenya that highlighted the conflict between customary law and statutory law in the context of death and burial.
What happened in the SM Otieno case ?
Silvano Melea Otieno was a Luo man from western Kenya who lived and worked in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. He was married to Wambui Otieno, a Kikuyu woman from central Kenya. The couple had two children together.
In 1986, Silvano Melea Otieno died in Nairobi. After his death, his Kikuyu widow, Wambui Otieno, made arrangements to bury him in a family plot in Nairobi. However, Otieno's Luo clansmen objected to this plan, arguing that under Luo customary law, a man must be buried in his ancestral land.
In 1987, the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Wambui Otieno, granting her the right to bury her husband in Nairobi. The court's decision was based on the principle that the wishes of a deceased person should be respected, and that customary law should not be used to override the rights of widows.