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he government is set to commence the release of bodies belonging to victims of a starvation cult massacre for burial, starting Tuesday next week, approximately one year since the discovery of multiple shallow graves inside Shakahola forest.

Addressing the press at the Malindi Sub County Hospital Funeral home where more than 400 bodies exhumed from the shallow graves are currently being preserved, Chief Government Pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor said so far, the Government Chemist has identified a total of 34 bodies which have been linked to their relatives and are ready to be released.

“The process will include logistics which are being undertaken this week.

“They involve organising for counsellor who will counsel those people and also contacting the relatives who will come here for the purpose of taking their loved ones. So we have done that already and the first batch will be arriving on March 26, 2024,” Oduor told the press yesterday.

DNA profiling

To be given bodies of their loved ones, relatives will be required to present a duly signed and stamped letter from their respective Chief for identification as real relatives to the victims, the pathologist said.

“Secondly, the relatives will have to be accompanied by the family member who donated the DNA for this is the person who was directly linked to the deceased. Upon coming, they will be counselled, we will then have them identify the bodies before we hand them over so that they can take the bodies for burial,” said Oduor.

The pathologist at the same time noted the DNA profiling has been done on a number of the bodies but there has been a challenge in linking some of the bodies to their relatives since there are instances where they do not match with people who donated the DNA.

While regretting that some relatives have been shying away from coming out to claim their loved ones, Oduor urged people who know they lost their relatives to “come up so that their DNA can be taken and be linked to the ones which we have generated.”

Unclaimed bodies

According to Oduor, unidentified, unclaimed bodies will later be buried in public cemeteries in accordance with the law.

“The government will identify space to bury the unclaimed bodies. But the burial will be conducted in an organised manner to make it easy and minimise confusion in case people turn up in future to claim the bodies,” explained Oduor.

Francis Wanje, a lecturer at Tana River based Galana Teachers Training College (TTC) who lost eight relatives in the massacre including his 35-year-old daughter Emily Kahunda Wanje and her two sons, Imani Ngala aged two years and Seth Hinzano Ngala, aged five years, said the journey has been long and all he wants is to bury the relatives and put the matter to rest.

Wanje said five of the bodies of the eight relatives who perished were positively identified after DNA matches, and now the family has rolled out burial arrangements at their home in Muyeye area near Malindi High school.

“This is good news for us. The matter has really stressed us and some of us developed sickness because of this but I am happy because now the day has come and now we will get the bodies of our loved ones for burial so that we may have closur.

“We are looking forward to that day because previously we were told the same but it was postponed. Let me hope this time round there will be no changes,” Wanje told the press in Malindi.