Unravel bodies puzzle

What you need to know:

  • Police said more than 31 bodies have been retrieved from River Yala since January last year.
  • The bodies invariably had torture marks, severed fingers, acid burns and deep wounds on the head and were mostly male.

Reports that dozens of human bodies have been retrieved from River Yala over the past one year are alarming. Residents painted a traumatising picture of children, while on their way to school, spotting rotting bodies floating on the river in sacks or polythene bags. 

This is especially common around Ndanu Falls, where police said more than 31 bodies have been retrieved since January last year. In addition, Yala Sub-county Hospital has been disposing of dozens of unidentified bodies.

The bodies invariably had torture marks, severed fingers, acid burns and deep wounds on the head and were mostly male. The most puzzling part of the matter is that the police seem clueless on who could have been dumping the bodies in the river that flows from the Nandi escarpment in the Rift Valley and drains into Lake Victoria in Nyanza. 

And while it would be prudent to let the police investigate the matter, it is unconscionable that multiple bodies can be dumped at the same spot by what residents described as people in a black pick-up truck and a white Probox van and the authorities remain clueless for months on end as to the cause of the menace. That smacks of dereliction of duty and only serves to fuel speculation of official complicity in these seemingly extra-judicial killings.

The only way to put paid to the speculation is for the National Police Service, specifically the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, to get to the bottom of the matter and prosecute the culprits. For these are not just bodies, but remains of family members and people who mean a lot to their loved ones. 

Lastly, besides the gross violation of sanctity of life, River Yala is the intake point for water that is consumed in Bondo and Siaya and the dumping of the bodies constitutes a health hazard. That should be dealt with once and for all.