Nyamira Governor: We only released 13 bodies to Kericho for disposal, not 33
By Mabonga Makhanu, March 30, 2026Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo has distanced the county from the 33 bodies, saying that they dispatched 13 bodies to Kericho for burial and do not know where the other 20 bodies came from.
While speaking to the press on Sunday, March 29, the governor broke his long silence on the Kericho mass grave saga, saying that they had already obtained court orders for their 13 bodies.
According to the governor, it has been the norm for the county to transfer bodies from their mortuary to Kericho County, but this time, the team that was supposed to carry out the exercise, after the county gave them Ksh32,000, went ahead and contracted a private cemetery instead of the one run by the county.
He continued to register his disappointment, saying that as a county, they do not know where the extra 20 bodies came from. He called for a speedy investigation into the mass grave saga to unearth the truth.
“There were 13 bodies which were supposed to be disposed of from Nyamira, and as a government, we followed the procedure. We got court orders to dispose of those bodies. We gave money to pay Kericho County, but unfortunately, whoever was given money diverted it and arranged with a private cemetery, where they went and disposed of the bodies,” he said.
Forensic analysis
This comes at a time when forensic examinations of 33 bodies recovered from a mass grave at Makaburini Cemetery have revealed a harrowing breakdown of the victims’ final moments.
According to government pathologist Dr Richard Njoroge, the findings have revealed a harrowing reality, with all 25 victims examined to date being children of varying ages, ranging from premature infants to full-term babies.
The pathology team was able to determine the gender of most of the children, identifying 10 girls and 8 boys.
However, due to the severe state of decomposition of many of the remains, the gender of 7 other victims could not be identified.
“They were in various stages of decomposition; only a few are fresh. The other ones were severely decomposed. In terms of age, some appeared to have been preterms, and the others were normal-term children. In terms of gender, we found eight to be male. We found 10 to be female, and then we could not determine the gender of the other seven,” Njoroge noted.
Kericho leaders’ reactions
This comes at a time when leaders from Kericho, led by Senator Aaron Cheruiyot, have questioned the silence from the Nyamira side on the matter; he had questioned why the governor, together with his senator, has not given any details about the mass grave.
He also questioned the owners of the cemetery since, according to him, it is owned by the NCCK.