Court rejects LSK bid to block Nairobi City from disposing of 120 unclaimed bodies
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The High Court has declined to issue orders blocking the Nairobi City County government from disposing of 120 unclaimed bodies lying at Nairobi City Funeral Home as sought by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).
Justice Lawrence Mugambi on Thursday ruled that an order to suspend the notice or intended disposal of the bodies on account of general claims about missing persons was not particular and not justified.
“The purpose of the notice is to inform the public so that any person who may be having a missing person can avail themselves at the mortuary and identify if such a person could be among the bodies targeted for disposal within the specified period,” the judge said.
Justice Mugambi added that such notices are ordinarily undertaken to ease congestion in the mortuary.
No threshold
“The application, therefore, does not meet the threshold for issuance of an ex-parte conservatory order,” the judge said.
LSK moved to court and sought orders to block the county government from disposing of the bodies until DNA tests are conducted to identify them.
“Pending the hearing and determination of this application infer-parties, an order of mandamus do issue compelling the respondents to conduct a DNA sampling process to ascertain the identity of the 120 unclaimed bodies lying at Nairobi City Funeral Home (City Mortuary),” the LSK said in the petition filed at the High Court.
LSK argued that many youths were shot dead and others still missing since June 25, 2024, when protestors took to the streets over the Finance Bill, 2024.
LSK Chief Executive Officer Florence Muturi said many of the young protestors who died in Nairobi were taken to the Nairobi City Funeral Home and that many families have been looking for their loved ones who went missing since then.
“Even as many people continue in the search of their loved ones who have gone missing since the Gen Z protests began, the 1st to 6th Respondents (government officials) have surprisingly published a public notice in the newspaper dated 21st August, 2024 notifying members of the general public that they intend to dispose of 120 unclaimed bodies from Nairobi City Funeral Home (City Mortuary) within seven days should the bodies remain unidentified,” she said.
Ms Muturi added that in its latest report, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported that over 50 people have died and many injured during the protests and many Kenyans continue to make reports of missing persons long after the protests.
The LSK wanted the court to compel the county government to issue a proper notice granting members of the public 120 days to identify and collect the unclaimed bodies and before disposing of any unclaimed bodies, the government should conduct mandatory DNA sampling.
