Family with a dead body spends night at a roadblock

A family from Ngai, Mwingi, in Kitui County yesterday spend the night in the cold at a roadblock along Kibwezi-Kitui road.

According to Erick Mwinzi, their father died after a short illness in Coast General Hospital and they initiated an immediate trip for burial upcountry but when they arrived at the roadblock things turned awry. Here, police officers couldn’t allow them to proceed with their journey.

“We obtained all required documents which permitted us to travel and give a decent send-off to our departed father.  We even obtained burial permit from Tononoka chief’s office,” said Mwinzi.

In one of the letters allowing the family to travel, which is in our possession, there is a stamp granting permission from the Covid-19 National Multi-Agency Command centre-Embakasi, Nairobi.

The four family members and two drivers left for burial after obtaining the body at Coast General Hospital mortuary and started their journey at around 11 am. They passed all other roadblocks erected along Mombasa-Nairobi highway but upon arriving at this particular roadblock, they were blocked by the police.

“We arrived at Kibwezi-Kitui roadblock at around 6:30 pm and flagged down by police manning the section. We were told the person to clear us was out of reach even by phone call. We were forced to sleep there together with the body,” Veronica Mwaniki said.

They said it was a painful experience spending the night with their dead father something that delayed the burial plans.

They were allowed to proceed a few hours in the morning after The Standard contacted the Makueni County Commissioner Maalim Mohammed.

At Kitui, they underwent check-ups from Kitui health officers and proceeded to lay the dead at his Ngai home.