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The Nairobian

Family in agony after daughter 'dies and is buried' in Saudi Arabia

Counties

By Edward Kosut | Jan 10, 2025

**CS Labor Florence Bore with Saudi Arabia's Minister of Human Resource and Social Development Eng. Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al Rajh.** [Picture, Ministry of Labor]

A family in Nandi County is devastated after their kin who reportedly died in Saudi Arabia was buried miles away in the Gulf nation.

The family from Kapsabet claims that their daughter, who was reported dead last August, was buried in the foreign country despite them sending Sh180,000 for transportation of the body to Kenya.

Since 2009 when she left home for Saudia Arabia where she was employed as a domestic worker, Vailet Kayesi was her family’s breadwinner before she suddenly stopped communicating in August. The family learned later that month that she had died under unclear circumstances.

On August 31, 2024, the family said, a neighbour broke the news that Kayesi was no more and the cause of her death was shrouded in mystery.

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The family says since then, efforts to repatriate her body have been fruitless.

Her mother Mary Minayo wants the remains of her daughter exhumed and transported back home.

Speaking to The Standard at Showground Estate in Kapsabet town, Minayo claimed that some suspected fraudsters solicited money from the family in the pretext of helping them to get the remains repatriated only to disappear after receiving Sh180,000.

According to the family, the body was initially preserved in a morgue in Jeddah city.

“Some people claimed to have positively identified the body of Kayesi and they requested for some money to facilitate its preservation and clearance. We organised a series of fundraisers that was followed by night vigils at home,” narrated Minayo, showing a rugged compound where hundreds of mourners were usually dancing and comforting the family.

The friends and relatives were hopeful that one day they would unite with Kayesi, the mother of two, but they had resigned to the fate that she would come back home in a casket after 14 years working in the Gulf.

Minayo said that they sent Sh160,000 that was meant to facilitate clearance and transportation of the parcel by flight to Kenya. They also sent Sh20,000 more for body treatment and preservation.

Three months later, a female friend to the late Kayesi disclosed to the family that the body was disposed by Saudi Arabia authorities, and this cut short the preparation for a burial ceremony at home.

“The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs was hesistant to give clarification on the whereabouts of my daughter’s remains until December when I visited its offices in Nairobi. They were not aware of such claims and promised to investigate the matter and communicate to the family accordingly,” she claimed.

In a letter dated December 9, 2024, the Ministry for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs told the family that Kayesi’s body had decomposed in one of the hospitals in Jeddah and the authorities could not be permitted to transport it to Kenya.

“They therefore proceeded to bury the remains through Jeddah Municipality in accordance with local health and safety regulations to prevent further health hazards. Local authorities, public health officials and forensic experts did not inform the consulate before the burial was carried out. The body was interred in Jeddah Municipality graveyard,” reads the letter.

It further stated that Kayesi was discovered dead in her room in an apartment after disappearing for days. The body had severely decomposed and the consulate relocated her former Kenyan roommate who positively identified the remains.

“Autopsy reports indicate that there was no foul play and that the deceased died of natural causes,” the Ministry says in the letter.

The family has hesitantly accepted the death of their loved one and claims that her phones have been intermittently on and off. Elizabeth Mmbone, a relative claimed that calls have been going through, and even sometimes answered.

“The calls are received and we only hear the background voices?” she said.

Minayo is appealing to the Kenya government to intervene.