Situated about three kilometres to the northeast of Eldoret town centre lies the European cemetery which contains five burial sites for the Commonwealth, from World War II and one French war grave.

Here, however, the tranquillity of the words ‘Rest in Peace’ written on the tombstones is a thing long foregone as grave robbers are having a field day violating the resting places in search of valuable relics that fetch handsome amounts of cash.

Instead, what greets your arrival at the cemetery are defaced tombstones scattered through the once beautiful cemetery, with the metallic epitaphs missing due to the lucrative scrap metal business.

We found innocent children playing at the cemetery with some seated on the tombstones unaware that they were disturbing the dead.

Upon further probing, we established that grave robbers have the popular belief that wealthy colonial farmers were buried with their worldly possession in fancy graves, giving rise to grave robbery.

One could expect the heroes here to be resting in peace, but that does not seem to be the case since the cemetery is now a shell of its former self.

Total disregard

A spot check revealed that, at the cemetery, it is the only grave of Private Marange (number 14503), a French veteran who died on June 26, 1943, and was buried there undergoing constant renovations.

This has been made possible by the financial support from the Directorate of Heritage, Memory and Archives of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the French embassy’s defence mission.

Other graves lie in a state of disarray, and locals are concerned that failure to preserve the open-ended Commonwealth Military Cemetery might lead to its total depletion.

It also emerged that the destruction of the graves has given rise to development by alleged land grabbers who have shifted the signage leading to the graves.

“Residential and commercial buildings are coming up day and night. If this is not checked, the graves will soon be missing, history will be lost,” said Mercy Jepkemoi, a resident of Subaru estate next to where the graves are located.

Four suspected treasure hunters were recently busted by members of the public, while three others managed to escape after they were found exhuming the old graves.

The suspects had already dug open a grave, leaving exposed skeletal remains and had started exhuming a second one before they were busted by residents while in the act.

The bizarre afternoon incident saw the suspects beaten up by an angry mob after a woman who saw them raised the alarm.

An assortment of herbs believed to be witchcraft paraphernalia, business cards from funeral homes and several mobile phones were recovered from the suspects.

They admitted that it was not their first time to dig from graves.

“We believe the dead were buried with valuables, that’s why we have been digging the ancient graves. The demand for relics and old ornaments have a lucrative market abroad,” said one of the suspects.

According to the suspect, their main target in exhumations are antique padlocks, iron boxes, gold and silver ornaments they belief their owners were buried with.

Uasin Gishu County Government has come under fire for abandoning the ancient graves, leaving them at the mercy of grave robbers.

An Eldoret based human rights activist Kimutai Kirui challenged the devolved unit to surrender the cemetery to any institution wishing to preserve it if it is not willing to do so.

Preserving sites

“What is happening at the graves is a grave matter. The county government should surrender the historical site to any institution, preferably a university, to preserve it for academic purposes and future generations,” said Kirui, adding that the county government should come forward and explain to the locals what it is doing to preserve the facility.

According to Uasin Gishu County Director of Culture Haji Dakane Mohamed, his department is working with the national government on identifying and preserving such historical sites.

“We are in the process of mapping out all the heritage sites such as the Eldoret War Cemetery so that together with the national government we can preserve them because they have of great historical significance to our country,” said Dakane.

In its website, Commonwealth War Graves Commission claims that Eldoret Cemetery is open every day to the public or any visit.

“Wheelchair access to this cemetery is possible via main entrance,” the website reads in part.

However, this is not the situation on the ground with the cemetery barely accessible from the Eldoret-Iten road due to encroachment as a result of mushrooming residential houses and commercial buildings.