Ken Okoth’s mother puts ‘opportunist’ women on notice ahead of son’s contested burial

By Lenox Sengre

The mother of the Late Kibra MP, Ken Okoth, says her son did not sire a child with any woman, and has urged members of the public to treat as “fake” claims by any lady who would come out to allege that the deceased got a baby with her.

“Ken did not sire any child. I know many women will come out to claim they have at least a child with Ken,” Angeline Ajwang Ongere told K24 Digital at her home in Kibra on Tuesday.

Ms Ongere also said she is opposed to the idea of her son being cremated.

“I am of the opinion that he be buried at Kabondo Kasipul in Homa Bay County, where I wake up and see his grave every day,” said Ms Ongere.

The source of claims that Ken Okoth would be cremated remains unknown.

Unconfirmed reports, however, say the Late parliamentarian had left behind a will with his wife, directing he should be cremated upon death.

According to a post spread widely on instant messaging app, WhatsApp, the Late MP “is scheduled to be cremated in a private function in Nairobi after requiem services at Starehe Boys’ Centre & School and Kabondo Kasipul in Homa Bay”.

Okoth’s mother says she “doesn’t know” who came up with the cremation claim.

Ms Ongere’s wish to have her son buried at Kabondo Kasipul has also been met by opposition from the ex-MP’s paternal side, who want Okoth interred at his father’s place in Kochia, Rangwe Constituency, Homa Bay County.

Okoth’s parents, Nicholas Obonyo and Angeline Ajwang, separated in the 1980s, when Okoth was barely a teenager.

Okoth then moved in with his mother to her ancestral home in Ogenga Village in Kabondo Kasipul Constituency.

The mother and son would later move to Kibra, where Okoth was raised.

Ms Ongere said she worked for the now-defunct Nairobi City Council for 26 years.

Okoth’s father was buried in Kochia in 1993 on a piece of land where his grandfather is also interred.