- All the bodies, according to mortuary attendants, were found in Tsavo West National Park
- They bore strangulation marks, some had their hands tired and all had their eyes gorged out of their sockets
Image: SOLOMON MUINGI
Image: SOLOMON MUINGI
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
Four bodies of men who were reported missing after abduction in Kwale county by unknown people were on Saturday discovered at a morgue in Makindu.
The bodies of Juma Said Sarai, Khalfan Suleiman Linuku, Abdalla Nassir Gatana and Usama Nassir – all aged between 24 and 35 years - were found at the Makindi subcounty hospital mortuary by family members and officials of Haki Africa and Human Development Agenda lobby groups.
Four more bodies were also found but had not been identified by family members by the time of going to press on Sunday.
All the bodies, according to mortuary attendants, were found in Tsavo West National Park at different times.
They had strangulation marks, some had their hands tired and all had their eyes gorged out of their sockets.
Nylon paper bags were also seen stuck on the skin of the bodies in their legs, private parts, necks, hands.
This means the nylon had been burnt while on the bodies.
“I can’t imagine how these people died. It must be horrible. These are clear marks of torture. I don’t know what kind of person can to this to a fellow human being,” Haki Adriuca executive director Hussein Khalid lamented on phone Sunday.
A total of 13 families, all from Kwale and Kilifi counties, converged at the Makindu sub-county hospitals in a bid to find out if the bodies of their lost loved ones had been found.
The families of the four identified bodies however told the Star they were frustrated by both the police and the hospital staff who refused to release their bodies.
“We are being told to pay mortuary fees of about Sh30,000. Where will we get this money yet this was an abrupt thing,” said Suleiman Said, the father of Khalfan.
Khalid said doctors were asking for Sh2,500 per body to conduct an observation post-mortem.
Of the four bodies, only Sarai’s case had been recorded by Haki Africa in a report released last Thursday in the presence of Independent Police Oversight Authority chair Anne Makori.
In the report dubbed ‘State of Human Rights at the Coast of Kenya 2019’, 11 cases of forced disappearances had been recorded in 2019, compared to nine in 2018.
Khalid, then, said there were more cases but they had not recorded them because they could not find sufficient evidence to warrant inclusion in the statistics.
On Sunday, families of the four victims of enforced disappearance recalled the days their loved ones were abducted.
Sarai, 36, was picked at his home at Kibundani in Kwale county on October 4 last year by three men, one of whom had produced a police badge to identify himself.
His body, according to mortuary attendants, was taken to the Makindu subcounty hospital on November 11.
Khalid said: “Mortuary attendants told us when the body was brought, they estimated that the person had died at least a day earlier. That means the people who abducted him detained him for more than a month.”
The bodies of Khalfan and Usama were found together on January 14, according to Khalid.
According to Khalfan’s father Suleiman Said, his 27-year-old first born son was abducted at his Ukunda home on December 22, 2019 by unknown people who were armed with guns.
The assailants broke into his house and took his son away.
His body would be found at Tsavo West National Park three weeks later, naked, mutilated and partially burnt.
His hands were tied and tissue papers stuffed in the mouth.
Abdalla’s body was found on January 20.
Families of the other missing persons said they would not tire looking for their loved ones.
Said Juma Mwatabu, 52, whose 24-year-old son, Athman Said, was abducted on October 22 last year at around 3am at his Kombani home in Kwale county, hopes to find him alive.
“I still have faith he is still alive,” he said on Saturday at the Makindu subcounty hospital.
He said assailants in three cars abducted his son, a footballer playing for Super Matuga FC, blindfolded him and drove towards Kilifi.
A friend identified as Said Bamama, whom they had been abducted together, would later be dropped along Malindi-Mombasa Road after hours of torture.
Over 30 unclaimed bodies are still lying at the mortuary.
A mortuary attendant who sought anonymity as he is not allowed to speak to the press told the Star that more bodies collected from Tsavo National Park were taken to Makueni hospital mortuary and City Mortuary in Nairobi.
“Police have been bringing bodies here but we can no longer preserve them because of our capacity. The bodies which in most cases are brutally mutilated are taken to City or Makueni mortuaries,” he said.
He said they have sought orders to dispose of the piling bodies.
Authorities are yet to uncover the mystery behind the continued extrajudicial killings targeting young men in Coast region, mostly Kwale county.
Civil society organizations have held talks with the government with Interior CS Fred Matiang’i last November assuring them that such cases would not be witnessed anymore.
Sarai’s family said they were informed that there were bodies that had been taken to Makindu subcounty hospital morgue and that they should check on them.
“That is why they came here and when they found their body, they informed us and we rushed here,” said Khalid.
He however noted that it was curious that police knew where the bodies were.
“How come?” he posed. “They must be knowing something that they don’t want to tell us.”
The Tsavo National Park is a notorious dumping site for victims of murder.
On December 30, 2014, the body of International Criminal Court (ICC) witness Meshack Yebei was found dumped at Man Eaters in the Tsavo National Park.
Yebei was a defence witness in a case against Deputy President William Ruto at The Hague-based court.
In March 2019, six black men were found brutally killed and their bodies dumped in Kanga area, Tsavo West National Park.
Their bodies were moved to City Mortuary for post-mortem and identification but no report has since been released concerning the killings.
Khalid said there is still a killer squad operating with impunity with blessings of the government.
“We call for the immediate setting up of a judicial inquiry to investigate the killings and ensure the murderers are brought to justice. All unclaimed bodies should be publicly announced,” Khalid added