Today, as the late Beryl Achieng Odinga is laid to rest at the family’s rural home in Kang’o Kajaramogi, Nyamira, Bondo sub-county, the event marks more than just a burial; it highlights a profound friction between long-held Luo cultural practices and the rapid pace of modern life and urbanization.

The decision by the Odinga family to bury their sister on her father’s compound, a move seen as going against the cultural practice that requires a married woman to be interred in her matrimonial home, has drawn sharp criticism from community elders and cultural custodians.

The tradition, which holds that once a woman is married and the dowry is paid, she permanently belongs to her marital home (even in cases of separation or divorce), is not just about respect but about maintaining social order.

Luo Ker (cultural leader), Odungi Randa, was among those who publicly appealed to the family, urging Siaya Senator Oburu Oginga to reconsider the decision, stating it was “not in tandem with the tradition.”

Adding further context to the cultural rule, Christopher Awuondo from Mbita, Homa Bay County, explained that even an unmarried woman, by custom, would be buried near the fence (gunda boundary) to avoid the “bad omen associated with the spirit of women” being interred in the main home.

Dr Oburu Oginga’s Defense: Embracing Change

Addressing the controversy during the coronation of CS Energy Opiyo Wandayi as a Luo elder in Ugunja, Dr. Oginga stood firm on the family’s decision, revealing that the choice was not a sudden one, but had been made by the family long ago.

Dr. Oginga’s core argument rests on the need to embrace modernity and urban planning:

“Things are fast changing. And my father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga had set a family cemetery where we shall all be buried,” he stated. “We cannot continue having graves in every home; those homes are properties that other people would come and live. So let us embrace change.”

He contrasted the old custom, where relatives were buried in temporary Gunda (homesteads) that would later turn into farms, with today’s permanent housing and the growth of towns into rural areas, suggesting that scattered graves are an impractical use of valuable land.

A Family Matter, Not a Cultural Mandate

The Senator emphasized that while the Odinga family chose this path, they are not forcing it on the wider community, and he called for the public debate to cease.

“This is a family matter, we don’t force the Luo community to follow whatever we have done. People are at liberty to bury wherever they feel, they can also bury in the public cemeteries. So to my elders, let us rest that matter there,” he concluded.

The Odinga family has previously demonstrated this liberal approach. Historically, even the late former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga was reportedly supposed to be buried at his Opoda Farm but was instead taken back to the established family cemetery at Kang’o Kajaramogi, next to his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, reflecting the family’s desire for a consolidated resting place.

Cultural Consistency

The debate was also heavily amplified online. Anyango Jabalo from Siaya, in a viral video, lamented the move as demeaning to Beryl, stating, “How do you take her back yet she was already married? Why are you burying her like a young girl yet she was a full-grown woman?”

However, Mbita lawmaker Milly Odhiambo injected a sharp counter-argument, using social media to challenge the critics on the issue of cultural consistency:

“All those who firmly opine that Beryl Odinga should be buried according to Luo customs, please confirm that your six lower teeth have been removed in strict conformity to Culture. If not, you are ‘boiling’ – iwalo!!”

Her point suggests that critics pick and choose which elements of Luo culture they wish to enforce, arguing that if one is to uphold strict adherence to burial rites, they must also adhere to archaic physical rituals, such as the traditional removal of the lower incisor teeth.

The Odinga family’s decision puts a spotlight on a critical tension facing many traditional African societies: how to honor ancestral customs while pragmatically adapting to the demands of modern land ownership, urbanization, and changing family structures.

The question remains whether one influential family’s modern approach will set a new precedent or remain an exception to the cultural rule.