Plans to bury late KCB employee Rosemary Chemutai Kimwatu have been put on hold after her husband, Kevin Migwe Kimwatu, went to court seeking to stop her remains from being released and buried without his participation.
Senior Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi on Friday, August 28, 2026, ordered KCB Bank Kenya Limited, its staff and members of Rosemary’s family not to remove her body from Lee Funeral Home until the dispute is heard between the parties.
The court further directed that no burial should take place without Kevin’s involvement and consent.
The respondents were also prohibited from organising or carrying out any funeral arrangements involving Rosemary without involving her husband, pending the hearing of the application.
“An interim temporary injunction is hereby issued restraining the respondents (KCB, Koech and 3 others), their servants, agents, employees and relatives from making any funeral arrangements and burial without the applicant’s involvement pending the inter partes hearing of this application,” Magistrate Mwangi ordered.
The magistrate also directed that the application be served on all the respondents before the matter returns to court on August 31, 2026, for further directions.
Kevin filed the case against KCB Bank Kenya Limited, Paul Kipkorir Koech and three other respondents. The matter was certified as urgent before the interim orders were issued.
In his application, Kevin said he and Rosemary were married on August 24, 2013, at St Austin’s Catholic Church in Nairobi.
He told the court that his wife’s remains are being held at Lee Funeral Home and raised concern over what he described as plans by her parents and sister to proceed with the burial without consulting him.
Kevin said he had made substantial preparations to have Rosemary laid to rest at their ancestral home in Matasia, Ngong, in Kajiado County.
The case has also brought KCB into the dispute because Rosemary was an employee of the bank before her death. She served as Head of Data Protection within the Risk Division.
Court documents indicate that Kevin came across a letter dated August 25, 2026, which he said was issued by KCB to Lee Funeral Home.
The letter allegedly contained instructions relating to the release, collection and burial of Rosemary’s remains.
Kevin claimed he was later informed by the funeral home that the body would be released only to Rosemary’s sister, Judy Koech-Oyamo.
He questioned the decision, saying KCB’s letter had listed two next of kin, one of them being his son, Charles Migwe Kimwatu.
Through his lawyers, Kevin accused the bank of getting involved in a family matter and asked it to withdraw the instructions given to the funeral home.
His lawyers argued that there was no provision in the Employment Act, Law of Succession Act or any other law allowing an employer to take control of burial or mortuary arrangements for a deceased employee.
Kevin also raised concerns over the alleged sharing of private family details with Lee Funeral Home without consent.
He claimed the information provided included the names, identification numbers, telephone contacts and addresses of family members.
The interim orders mean Rosemary’s remains cannot be removed from Lee Funeral Home for burial under the disputed arrangements until the matter progresses in court.
The respondents, their relatives, agents, servants and employees have also been barred from interring or inhuming Rosemary without the involvement and consent of her husband.
The case is scheduled to return to court on August 31, 2026, for further directions.