The family of a Swedish national who collapsed and died at a Mombasa Airport, has informed KSB that Grace Wanjohi, a Kenyan national who has claimed that he was the girlfriend of the late Swede, will not be allowed to attend the funeral because the family does not recognize her.
“I wouldn’t give my permission for her to come to Sweden because we want this to be a family matter”, she said on telephone. In a surprise announcement, she also said that the family did not know that the Swede had travelled to Kenya to get married.
“We have gone through all his papers and his communication and there is no evidence that he travelled to Kenyan to get married”, the daughter told KSB.
“No one that we have had contact with here in Sweden has mentioned anything about a wedding or any plans in that direction. That includes friends and his closest family. We have not found any documentation of any plans, whatsoever of my father planning to wed”, she continued.
She said that her father, who was 71, has been ailing for a very long time and travelled to Kenya against Doctor’s advice that he shouldn’t make any trip to Africa. According to Grace, the Swede has postponed the trip to Kenya on several occasions because of health related reasons.
The Swede was suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, liver problems and heart disease. The daughter told KSB on telephone that her father had a heart operation 15 years ago and that they were surprised that he had lived for a very long time after the operation.
“We knew this was coming and for us, the question was when” the daughter told KSB. When asked why the family did not advice the deceased not to travel because of health related reasons, the daughter said that her father was a man who never acted on the basis of other people’s ideas. “He never accepted anybody’s thoughts in life”, she said.
“He did what he wanted. At least he got to Africa because he could have died in the aircraft. He wanted to travel and we knew we couldn’t stop him”, she told KSB. She said that the family believed that the body of the deceased failed as a result of the long trip he made to Africa and hinted that the funeral will be “very small”.
“It will probably be the three of us”, she said, referring to herself, her brother and their Aunt.
The late Swede was a retired businessman whose specialty was repair of dish washers, laundry machines and refrigerators.
The daughter said that her family was not aware that her father was on her way to Kenya to meet someone.
“When my brother talked to the Mombasa Beach Hotel, to inform them that my father was deceased, they did not mention any reservation other than my father’s”, she told KSB.
She also refuted references to her father as the boyfriend of anybody saying that this reference was “excessive and outrageous”.
“At the reception desk there was an envelope waiting for him and they opened it on my brother’s command. It contained a telephone sim card, no name, no instructions and they did not know who had left it there. We know that our father has had contact with multiple women during the last few years, among them a woman named Grace, but calling him her boyfriend seems excessive and outrageous”, she said in a brief statement.
The position of the family has complicated plans by Grace to travel to Sweden because without an invitation letter from the family, Grace cannot be granted a visa by the Swedish Embassy to be in the country for the funeral.
The daughter told KSB that her father’s body might have been cremated. According to reports from Kenya, the body was supposed to be cremated on Friday May 25th in Kenya after which the ashes were supposed to be airlifted to Sweden for burial. According to Grace, it was the wish of the deceased that his body be cremated.
Okoth Osewe
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