Migori town residents are reeling in shock after morgue attendants allegedly stole clothes in which bodies were to be buried.
On Thursday morning, the family of Job Ocholla beat up a morgue attendant at Akidiva Memorial Hospital in Migori town. He had been a clerk at the Migori County Assembly.
A similar attack happened at Migori Referral Hospital on Saturday when the family of Tobias Onyango beat up a morgue attendant over missing clothes.
Ocholla’s family led by his grandfather Elisha Odie had gone to pick the body in the morning for burial only to be told that a suit, shoes, a tie and other clothes valued at Sh20,000 were missing.
“We left all the clothes at the facility expecting to have our son properly dressed in the morning for burial. We were waiting outside for hours," Odie said.
Relative Joseph Nyambor said the body was naked.
“It is sad hospitals in Migori town are using the plight of mourners and strict funeral measures to steal clothes,” he said.
Angry mourners beat up the morgue attendant before buying new clothes and heading off for burial in Nyandema village, Nyatike subcounty.
Hospital oficials refused to comment. Proprietor Akidiva Adagiza did not answer calls or reply to messages.
Migori chairman of Community Policing Nashon Ongoro said some morgue attendants steal clothes either for money or as a superstition.
Ongoro said in the Saturday case, Onyango was murdered, struck by a blunt object. His body was dumped in the River Migori.
“When his body was retrieved and taken to the morgue, the attendants refused to hand back his clothes and shoes he was wearing," he said.
Emmanuel Opiyo, a preacher from Nyamware village in Migori town who presided over the funeral, said the family was angry their relative’s killers might have taken the clothes to ‘treat’ or protect themselves against ghosts.
“They locked up the morgue attendant inside with other bodies when he refused to give up the clothes,” the preacher said.
Edited by R.Wamochie
