Panic as police exhume body of 80-year-old woman

Police in Kakamega North have exhumed the body of 80-year-old woman buried in January 2020 at Cheptulu in Malava sub-County.

The woman's son, Ezna Shilesi, had successfully obtained court orders allowing the exhumation of the body which will now be buried afresh at Kapkanga in Vihiga County.

Disagreements among the deceased' children over the burial site led to a section of the family moving to court demanding the body be buried on the elderly woman’s farm.

“I drove here on January 15 to collect my mother's body moments after she died. However, my sister would not let me transport the body to our home in Vihiga, but finally, the court has done us justice by giving us the chance to accord my late mother a decent burial ,” said Shilesi.

“My sister went ahead to bury the body of our late mother at the former’s matrimonial home against our wish,” he claimed. 

On Monday, Salwenje arrived with a new coffin ready to transport the remains of his mother to her final resting place.

“I came with a casket as instructed by health officials in regard to the Covid-19 guidelines. Besides, our culture would not allow us to transport the body in the coffin she was buried in, we will have to burn it  next to her grave,” he added. 

Hundreds of onlookers watched in disbelief as police went on with the exhumation exercise under tight security.

Area Chief John Munji said they could not have interfered with the exhumation since it was orders from the court.

“We have no complaints against the court orders, the body has been exhumed and will be transported to Vihiga as per the directives,” Munji said. 

Some of the locals claimed not to have witnessed such an incident before wondering why the body would be exhumed close to a year later.

But elders The Standard spoke to intimated that a banana stem would be buried in the grave left after the exhumation in line with traditional beliefs.