- Okero Okite and Fred Ojiro brought the dumping of bodies into River Yala into the limelight early this year only for them to go into hiding, fearing for their lives.
- According to Haki Africa boss, Kinoti said fears that the government was coming after the whistle blowers was unfounded.
Image: AKELLO ODENYO
The Director of Criminal Investigations on Tuesday assured the men who retrieve bodies from River Yala of safety.
George Kinoti also said he will help them secure jobs with Siaya county.
Okero Okite and Fred Ojiro brought the dumping of bodies in River Yala to the limelight early this year only for them to go into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Okite works as a driver in Yala while Ojiro is a human rights activist.
Close to 25 bodies were retrieved from the river, with some decomposed beyond recognition.
Postmortem was done on more than 17 bodies to help identify them.
Reports emerged that the police were looking for the two whistleblowers with growing fears they could be harmed.
Okite said in January that he was forced to seek refuge in a neighbouring home after he was allegedly warned by a homicide officer that he would be arrested anytime.
He said that due to their regular update on the number of bodies discovered in the river, they were harassed, intimidated and even received death threats.
"I was called by a Directorate of Criminal Investigations officer in Yala that the homicide boss wanted to meet me," Okite said.
"The boss was to pay me Sh5,000 for the latest body that I retrieved last Friday. They have been paying that amount for some time.
"Upon arriving at the DCI office in Yala, I was detained from 8am to around 4:30 pm and my phone confiscated. I was not even allowed to smoke a cigarette."
Ojiro would shortly reemerge but Okite remained in hiding, citing personal threats.
He said he received what he described as summons to appear at DCI headquarters along Kiambu road for interrogation.
So on Tuesday, alongside human rights activists, including Haki Africa executive director Hussein Khalid, he honoured the summons and met Kinoti.
To his surprise, the DCI boss told them that he wanted to meet him personally and thank him for the great job he did in retrieving the bodies from the river.
According to Khalid, Kinoti said fears that the government was coming after the whistle blowers was unfounded.
"We were extremely surprised how positive and supportive the DCI was to these people. He said he wanted to assure them of their safety," Khalid told the Star.
"Kinoti assured him that he will call Siaya Governor Cornell Rasanga employ Okero at the Yala mortuary and give him a payslip so that he gets legitimate support."
(edited by Amol Awuor)