The late Mary Auma Oliech. She passed away on July 21, 2018. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The family of former Harambee Stars captain Dennis Oliech is feuding over burial plans for their mother, with two siblings placing death announcements with differing schedules.
Mary Auma Oliech, the family matriarch, died on July 20 and it appears that the divisions between her sons and daughters may eclipse her achievements that include raising three reputable footballers and running a world-famous restaurant.
On Tuesday, two transition notices relating to Mrs Oliech’s death were placed in the Daily Nation.
One that was sponsored by one of her five sons said Mrs Oliech’s body will be taken from Umash Funeral Home on Thursday and that the cortege will reach the rural home in Seme, Kisumu County, on Friday.
The other notice, funded by one of the two Oliech sisters, did not reveal details of when the body will be taken from the morgue in Nairobi, only announcing that the burial will be on August 18 — more than a week after the planned arrival of the body at the rural home as per the brother’s announcement.
The sister did not respond to our request for a comment.
A Nation advertising executive explained that the announcements came within hours of each other.
Mrs Oliech, who was a widow by the time of her death, rose from poverty to establish a restaurant that in 2016 made headlines when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, one of the 10 richest people globally, ate ugali and fish there during his visit to Kenya.
“I enjoyed ugali and a whole fried tilapia for the first time and I enjoyed them both,” posted Mr Zuckerberg on his Facebook page describing Mama Oliech Restaurant as a “local place everyone recommended”.
The tension in the Oliech family became apparent in October 2012 during the hearing of a family land dispute.
The case was about a piece of land in Dagoretti and it pitted Mrs Oliech against some of her children.
Though little ever came in the public domain about the life of Mama Oliech, video images of a court session in October 2012 gave a glimpse of the no-nonsense woman she was.
Cameras captured Mrs Oliech reading the riot act to lawyers outside a Nairobi court.
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