DCI boss reveals how bodies were secretly buried at Kericho mass grave

Homicide detectives dig to exhume unidentified bodies buried under unclear circumstances at Kericho Public Cemetery. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin has revealed that Sh130,000 was paid to facilitate the clandestine burial of 33 unidentified bodies in Kericho.

The revelation came as three key suspects were charged in court yesterday.

Speaking at the Kericho Public Cemetery, Amin said investigations had uncovered serious irregularities in mortuary tagging and documentation at Nyamira County Referral Hospital where the bodies originated.

“There were several severe irregularities in the tagging and documentation of the bodies at the Nyamira County Hospital mortuary. The vast majority of the 39 remains, 33 bodies and six body parts, lacked standard official mortuary tags. Only a few had legible hospital tags or informal handwritten wrist or foot tags. None of the bodies had proper hospital identification and documentation,” said Amin.

The DCI boss said that while hospital records indicated that 46 infants had died in the wards and were taken to the morgue, mortuary records do not account for the discharge of the remains, raising concerns that the bodies may have been left under unclear circumstances.

“These findings clearly point to serious lapses in Nyamira Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary protocols, documentation and oversight, as well as irregularities in the burial process at the NCCK Makaburini cemetery,” he said.

Amin further disclosed that the Sh130,000 payment was made by the Nyamira County Government to the management of the NCCK Makaburini Cemetery to cater for the burial of the 33 bodies, which included eight adults, newborns and fetuses.

“There were no proper protocols. When such a process is undertaken, public health officers and morticians are supposed to ensure due process is followed,” he said. [Nikko Tanui]

Amin noted that the transportation of the bodies across county lines and their subsequent burial without proper identification or legal clearance points to a well-coordinated scheme aimed at circumventing laid-down procedures.

Those already arraigned in court include a Nyamira County mortician, a hospital records officer, and a caretaker at the NCCK Kericho Public Cemetery, where the bodies  were hurriedly buried before being exhumed.

“We will take appropriate action. There are offences under the Births and Deaths Registration Act, the Penal Code and the Public Health Act,” said Amin.

He added that once investigations are complete, the file will be submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for further direction.

Amin said additional investigative steps are ongoing, including forensic analysis of DNA and toxicology samples already submitted to the government chemist.

“The investigation team has embarked on tracing the parents of the deceased infants and fetuses and obtaining reference DNA samples from patients whose limbs were amputated for comparison purposes,” he said.

He added that forensic documentation analysis of court records, as well as hospital and mortuary documents, is underway.

Investigators are also seeking administrative records from the National Council of Churches of Kenya, Kericho branch, to establish the roles and deployment of the cemetery caretaker, and to confirm whether the burial site is a gazetted public cemetery.