The family of Kenyan former footballer Dennis Oliech is beefing over funeral plans for their mother who passed on a week and a half ago at a Nairobi Hospital.
It has emerged that two of the Ms. Oliech children placed 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.
Reports indicate that on Tuesday, two transition notices relating to Mrs Oliech’s death were placed in one of the daily newspapers.
According to one announcement of the newspaper that was sponsored by one of her five sons said that 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 obituaries Oliech and his sisters ran in the August 7, 2018 edition of the the Daily Nation.
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.
In his post the CEO of Facebook said, “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.
uma died on Friday evening after a long battle with cancer. She had been in and out of hospital and was at one time flown to France by son Oliech where she underwent prolonged treatment.
News of her death shook Kenya’s football landscape with football administrators, footballers; retired and present, all sending messages of condolences.
Funeral arrangements have been going since her demise with Oliech announcing on Instagram that the family will be conducting a fundraiser for his mother’s funeral arrangements.
In the statement, Oliech invited all willing persons, including the president and the former Prime Minister, to Tuesday’s fundraiser which will be held at her mum’s popular eatery, Mama Oliech Restaurant in Nairobi’s Hurlingham area.
Invitation cards to the fundraiser have also been distributed out.
Mr Odinga is among those who have already paid the Oliech family a visit to condole with them for the loss of their mother.
President Kenyatta, meanwhile, was among the first people to send messages of condolences to the family following Mama Oliech’s demise.