Court orders burial of Mwanza fisherman in family village after settlement

Mwanza. The Nyamagana District Court has ordered that the disputed burial of a fisherman who died last week be done at his ancestral village after an out-of-court settlement between his family and his first wife.

Wambura Mambya who died at 54, will now be buried in Mihingo Village, Bunda District, Mara Region, instead of the home of his second wife, according to the order issued on Thursday, July 30, 2026, by Principal Resident Magistrate Chrescencia Mushi, who said the agreement reached by both parties was in line with the family's customary burial practices.

"The court orders that the deceased be buried in Mihingo Village, Bunda District, Mara Region," Ms Mushi ruled.

The ruling brought to an end Civil Case No. 19355 of 2026, which pitted the deceased's first wife, Elizabeth Nyakao, as the applicant against John Mambya as the respondent in a dispute over the burial arrangements.

Mambya, a fisherman, died on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at the Sekou Toure Regional Referral Hospital in Mwanza.

The dispute began on July 24 after Ms Nyakao learnt that relatives of the deceased were planning to bury him at the home of his second wife instead of his ancestral village.

Following the disagreement, police barred both the deceased's relatives and his first wife from collecting the body for burial until the court determined where he should be laid to rest.

The matter was filed before the Nyamagana District Court and first came up for hearing on Tuesday, July 28. After being adjourned due to procedural issues, the court delivered its ruling on Thursday.

The decision followed an agreement between the deceased's relatives and his first wife to observe their customary tradition, under which the deceased would be buried in his family village.