Activist Boniface Mwangi and Haki Africa director Khalid Hussein visited River Yala in Siaya after receiving a report on dead bodies at the river
Mwangi was informed of the endless floating bodies by Joel Mbirika, who is also an activist, requesting him to widely share the information.
According to Mbirika, dead bodies are retrieved from the river almost every two or three days and they are taken to the Yala sub county hospital where they are labeled as unknown.
During their visit, Mwangi said that they were able to see two dead bodies floating at the river and 21 other unidentified bodies at the Siaya county hospital morgue.
“We responded to social media reports of floating bodies in River Yala. We went to Siaya County and saw 21 unidentified male bodies. We saw 2 more floating in the River.@HakiAfrica has a list of 67 victims of enforced disappearances from 2021 and 8 so far in 2022. #RiverYalaBodies,” Mwangi shared on Twitter.
According to the Haki Director, the bodies are said to be dumped by unknown individuals who bring them on vehicles late at night.
“There is a double cabin and a probox that have been spotted on different dates, individuals dumping bodies at the bridge into River Yala. According to the local community, this happens in the dead of the night between 1am and 5 am and they have been spotted several times doing that, ” he said
Khalid further said that at the mortuary, they were able to see bodies retrieved from the river that had been tied with ropes and others that had been severely tortured.
“We’ve also heard of 10 bodies that were each inside a sack and these sacks are very well sewed as if it is a parcel,” he further said.
He questioned why such was being witnessed when there is the government, the police and even the DCI.
“Do we have a government in place? How come this is happening in an area that is supposed to have a police station, where we have DCI, where we have a county government and things are happening in everyone’s knowledge,” Khalid stated.
A local identified Okero is called on most occasions to help in retrieving the bodies after acquiring the skills from his grandfather and his father. He told the activists that there were many dead bodies rotting in the river.
The report by the activist has elicited reactions on social media with netizens with some calling for CS Fred Matiang’i and IG Hillary Mutyambai to resign for failing to protect the lives of Kenyans as others called for immediate action from the government.
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