Dead man ‘resurrects’, caught hawking stolen utensils and chicken

Residents of Ilesi, Kakamega County, are a puzzled lot. This is after an alleged rapist and long-lost outcast who ‘passed on’ two decades ago was spotted hawking a live chicken and utensils, suspected to have been stolen, at Khayega — a local market.

Kennedy Matayo, 45, is alleged to have passed on and been laid to rest in 1990. Confirming the incident, Chief Samuel Sechero confirmed that Matayo was reportedly arrested for rape in January 1990, but the case collapsed due to insufficient evidence.

But after he was released later the same year, he died of an illness he had picked while in detention. 

“The suspect was arrested and later released after he allegedly defiled, killed, and buried — in a banana plantation — his brother’s five-year-old child. But after his release, his dead body was found in a ditch months later. But seeing as he had been an outcast, they opted to collect his remains and bury them at a public cemetery in Kakamega County,” said Sechero.

“Thus, when it was reported that he had been spotted hawking a live chicken and utensils, those who knew him were left in shock. He later owned up that he had stolen the bird and the items in Kitale, where he had been living before his return to Ilesi,” chief said. Village mates said such people are supposed to be shunned, claiming it is an abomination to mingle with such. Some even take cover or flee when they see such a person approach them.

“We are worried people might go mad around here, how can a person whom we buried 25 years ago resurrect? It seems we buried the wrong person and as our culture demands we should not interact with him unless he is cleansed,” said a shocked local.

Locals claim their customs demands a cleansing ceremony be carried out.  A goat or a sheep has to be slaughtered, traditional herbs collected, and those involved asked to gulp from a calabash full of a traditional concoction.

“This is meant to bind their blood relations, exorcise ghosts in him and inhibit any sexual desires he could be having for relatives. Sometimes those involved are forced to walk toward a river naked to bury a new born animal, a ritual believed to exorcise evil spirits,” a village elder said. Matayo has since been arrested and is currently in police custody. Some locals have threatened to lynch him if he is released. They say they can’t live with a rapist, murderer and thief.

“I have never died, I’m still alive and they must have buried the wrong person because after I was released, I relocated to Kitale. I knew I couldn’t coexist with locals; they insisted I was a rapist, even after they were unable to prove it in court. Life in Kitale was tough, and I have just returned, but don’t have a fixed abode,” Matayo narrated.