Content creator Lyndah Kebati left mourners in Kisii stunned after using her late father Bosco Kebati’s burial ceremony to speak openly about a family dispute that had apparently existed for years.
Lyndah addressed mourners during the emotional ceremony and questioned why members of her father’s family were calling for peace when, according to her, her mother Angelica Akinyi and their family had been excluded from important parts of the funeral arrangements.
She spoke without appearing to hold back, saying she was relieved that her father had died because she would no longer have to return to the homestead and pretend that they were one family.
“I am glad that my father has died so I can never come back to this homestead and pretend to be family,” she said during the ceremony.
She also claimed that she had been denied several opportunities to participate in her father’s final farewell, including seeing his body at the morgue, contributing to his eulogy and helping lower him into the grave.
After the burial, Lyndah explained that her anger was not simply about relatives failing to support her personally. She said the painful part was being denied the opportunity to be present for her own father during his final moments.
The emotional speech quickly divided opinion online. While some people said she had every right to speak about what she believed happened, others questioned whether a burial ceremony was the appropriate place to confront relatives over unresolved family disagreements.
However, another member of Bosco’s first family later gave a different account. Julie Marita disputed some of Lyndah’s claims, saying the first family had been responsible for much of their father’s care during his illness and that Lyndah and her mother had been informed about his deteriorating health. She urged people to hear both sides before forming conclusions.
The controversy has since moved beyond the burial, with Kenyans debating grief, family responsibility, entitlement and whether long standing disagreements should be addressed publicly or privately.