Laikipia East Public health officer has ordered an immediate exhumation and reburial of 43 unclaimed bodies in Nanyuki which were feasted by dogs after been buried in a shallow grave at a graveyard in Thingithu Estate.
Speaking at the scene at the public cemetery, Samson Marangu said that he had been informed by the Nanyuki mortuary that there were 47 unclaimed bodies in their morgue and that 43 of them were to be buried while 4 were to be taken to medical institutions for research.
Marangu who blamed the Nanyuki Municipal Council for burying the bodies at a shallow ground added that he will not wait for a court order to redo the process but insisted that there should be an immediate reburial because the scene was posing a health hazard to residents.
The Nanyuki mayor, Laikipia East OCPD and the District Public Health and Sanitation officer went to the scene today after Thingithu residents lamented that some of the bodies were being feasted by hungry dogs.
Laikipia East Police boss Joshua Lutukai said that the reburial process should be sped up because it is not only creating health hazards but also raising security concerns in the area.
“I was so surprised when I learnt from the local media that dogs could feast on humans due to poor burial process. A deep grave should be dug and they be reburied immediately”, said Lutukai.
The Mayor Councilor Isaac Mathenge however said that the graveyard had not filled up as there was half an acre left that can accommodate lots of bodies.
Mathenge said that he was unaware on how the burial process was conducted shoddily by his officials but promised that proper action and investigation will be done after the exhumation process.
“I’ll wait until the bodies are exhumed because that will fully determine whether the dogs are the ones which retrieved the bodies or the process was well done”,said the Mayor.
Mathenge assured that a deep grave is being dug and that this time he will inspect so as to know whether it will fit the 43 bodies.
A middle-aged man Evan Gitau told the press on Monday that he lost the well paying contract of burying the 43 bodies to some municipal council officials.
Gitau who claimed to have been working with the Nanyuki mortuary in the section of organizing and burying the unclaimed for 12 years said that he saw the council’s track driver and his colleague bury the bodies at the said cemetery.
“I have been doing this job for 12 years and I have never seen dead bodies being buried like charcoal. I saw some of the officials pour sand on them and shed tears”, said the irate Gitau.
The mayor confirmed that he has known Gitau for a very long time as a person who does his work diligently. Mathenge said that he did not find the reason as to why he was denied the contract.
Residents of Thingithu Estate had woken to a rude shock on the Eid-Ul-Fitr holiday to see human bodies which were being scavenged by angry dogs at the cemetery which is sited behind Loise Girls Secondary School.
On Saturday, Nanyuki Municipal Council officials placed 40 bodies at one shallow dug portion of the yard and used a tractor to pour a hump of clay soil on them.
The residents termed the burial as inhumane and unhealthy to them since they have children who play around at the unfenced graveyard.
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