Three weeks after he went into hiding over alleged intimidation, Nicholas Okite Okero, the river Yala diver, resurfaced on Friday.
Okite is the man who has been retrieving unknown dead bodies from River Yala.
He informed the Star that he had switched off his phone deliberately and went to Nairobi. Only his close family members knew of his whereabouts.
He said he met the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti last Wednesday and had a productive deliberation on his works.
Okite and Siaya-based human rights defender Fredrick Ojiro said that Kinoti has incorporated Okite in the DCI team and he will receive further training in diving to continue professionally helping the community.
"I was with the DCI boss George Kinoti and he has promised me good things. That my life is going to be well. Mine is to say thank you to him," Okite told journalists at Nyayo gardens in Yala town on Friday.
Ojiro, the Siaya activist said, "Our brother is now in the government. The DCI boss recognized his good work in helping families reunite with loved ones whose bodies are being brutalised and dumped in rivers."
Meanwhile, at the Nyayo gardens in Yala town on Friday, Okite's homecoming ceremony was dramatically cancelled by the local administration police even after it commenced to the bewilderment of everyone.
Tents, chairs, musical instruments were disbanded and everybody, including Okite's two wives and children, locals and Ohangla artists were told to go home.
Rights activists, led by a team from Haki Africa who had flanked Okite for the ceremony, protested the move saying that it spoke of malice and that the police needs to tell the public the truth.
"Unfortunately, when we came in the morning, the area Chief told us that he had received instructions from above that the event cannot continue. As you can see, the OCS is here to implement the order," Boniface Ogutu, a Kisumu-based activist explained.
Ogutu added that until yesterday the police, including DCI boss George Kinoti, had given a nod for the event to continue.
On his part, Ojiro said: "We are very much unhappy with the kind of harassment that the OCS wants to bring here. He should not engage the people as enemies but as brothers and sisters."
Speaking on phone, Gem Sub County Police Commander Charles Chacha blamed the organizers of Okite's homecoming ceremony for failing to follow the law.
"They did not have a permit. It seems that they don't know the law. According to the law, it is the OCS who issues a permit, not anybody else," Chacha told the Star.
Okite's father is a retired diver.
Their home's proximity to the river saw them become experts in diving.
