River Yala: Confusion after two families claim one body as their kin

As pressure mounts at the Yala sub-county morgue which is already filled to capacity, a contest has emerged after two families identifying the same body as belonging to their loved ones.

The family of Irene Wahito and the Mutuku’s are locked in a brawl over a body both families are claiming.

Wahito believes the body is that of her brother, Erastus Ndirangu, a 45-year-old business who went missing in November last year while on his way to Nakuru from Nairobi.

The Mutuku’s had earlier identified the body as that of Peter Kioo Mutuku, their kin who disappeared in the company of Philemon Cheruyuot, a 37-year-old businessman whose body was identified yesterday by his brother.

Mutuku and Cheruiyot are said to have disappeared alongside three others on December 2 last year, with the car they were traveling in found abandoned in Gilgil, Nakuru County.

Wahito, speaking to Citizen Digital on phone, decried of lack of funds to or engage in a court battle or facilitate a DNA test to help in identification of the body.

The mortuary’s capacity of 16 bodies has been overstretched after over 21 bodies were recently retrieved from the nearby River Yala, in incident that shocked the nation.

Amnesty International now seeks to bring together leaders from the region in a bid to forge a way forward.