Nairobi's disposal of 120 bodies could violate dignity of the dead

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has announced intention to dispose of 120 bodies currently lying at the Nairobi Funeral Home within seven days.

Given the pattern of ongoing enforced disappearances and numerous mysterious deaths since the June protests, a business-as-usual approach may drag state officers into courts in future if they do not take care.

According to the notice, 120 bodies were dropped off by police officers from 22 police stations in Nairobi between 12 May 2023 and 28 April 2024. Most of the unclaimed bodies are male with 15 marked as female and one child.

Accidents, mob violence, medical conditions and shootings are some of the causes of death registered. Kasarani has most cases (5) but Kamukunji, Shauri Moyo, Huruma, and Dandora are also among the police stations listed. Death by shooting cases were reported for Kasarani and Kilimani.

News reports that there were 247 bodies at the Nairobi Funeral Home (formerly City Mortuary) raised major concerns. It should be noted that the funeral home usually has between 80-100 bodies at any time.

Also, disposal of unclaimed bodies takes place between 21 and 90 days. If this batch will dispose of older bodies, one can assume there may be roughly 120 bodies that relate to the last three months of May, June and July.

The preservation and disposal of our dead is a devolved function and lies with our 47 county governments. Having spent several hours at Yala mortuary in 2022, Malindi mortuary in February, and several Nairobi mortuaries over the last three months, our public institutions are grossly underfunded and under-regulated.

In the past, mortuaries have disposed of unclaimed bodies without individual body bags, metallic body tags and in mass graves like rubbish in any one of the country’s landfills or dumpsites.

Standard operating procedures developed by the National Coroner now require morticians to trace fingerprints from each of the unclaimed bodies with the National Registration Bureau.

Each of the bodies must be autopsied to establish cause of death. From Wednesday’s announcement, most of the bodies’ identities remain unknown. It is not clear whether Nairobi Funeral Home has completed the tracing exercise on all the 120 adult bodies as required.

The idea of being buried as an unclaimed body in a mass grave is probably one of our worst nightmares. Unseparated from the body mass of others, there is no individual anymore, just humanity decomposing against itself.

The human body has 206 bones. If most of the unclaimed bodies set for disposal on Tuesday have all their bones intact, this will be a burial of over 24,000 bones.

Further assume that future investigations find any one of these bodies subject of a serious crime and an exhumation is required. The forensic investigators would require 6-8 specialists working over a couple months to excavate, exhume and sample the DNA of the murder victim’s skeletonised remains. Conservatively, this mass exercise could cost the state nearly Sh2 million.

The 7-day notice seems too short for any family to organise themselves to check whether among them are their missing relatives.

How do we ensure existing Standard Operating Procedures are followed, and a basic level of dignity accorded the dead?

What degree of public oversight will accompany the disposal of these bodies? How does the Funeral Home and the Governor protect themselves in future should mischief be discovered?

Given the controversy around the deaths of protesters and those still missing to date, the Morticians and Allied Professionals Association, country governments and the National Coroner must independently develop and publish clear and transparent guidelines for disposal of unclaimed bodies. There is urgent need for new regulations, financing and public oversight.

Despite international condemnation, this week, Kajiado residents and active protesters Bob Njagi, brothers Jamil and Aslam Longton were physically assaulted and abducted in broad daylight by masked men in private cars. Their whereabouts are unknown, and we must demand their release.