State to support Shakahola burials

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has announced that the government will assist poor families of the Shakahola cult victims to handle the burial costs.

He said plans are on course to identify and assist families of Shakahola cult victims as their bodies are released.

“The government commenced the task of releasing the bodies to their families for burial with the crime scene teams being instructed to conduct a thorough final inspection of the Shakahola Forest to ensure that the exhumation efforts are concluded with due diligence and professionalism,” Kindiki stated.

“The scene of crime teams are directed to make a final check at the Shakahola Forest to ensure the exhumation is complete and professionally closed.”

Family stranded

On Tuesday, a family that travelled from Emuhaya sub-County in Vihiga County was left stranded at the Malindi Sub County Hospital funeral home after they lacked means to transport the bodies.

Silvano Pondi, leading a delegation of relatives from Emuhaya to receive the body of his brother Raphael Temba Eshukumo, said they started traveling on Sunday after receiving a call from the DCI instructing them to avail themselves in Malindi.

He, however, said the family was not adequately prepared to receive and transport the body.

On arrival at the Malindi Sub-County Hospital Funeral Home, he said the family was shocked when they were asked whether they came with a vehicle to transport the body

According to Kindiki, the national government will acquire 4000 acres of the Chakama Ranch where the Shakahola deaths occurred to put up a memorial.

“The Government will acquire parts of the Chakama Ranch where the main suspect carried out his atrocious crimes on the people of Kenya and build a memorial to remind us of what happened in perpetuity,” he said.

Legal barriers

Speaking in Kilifi, Kindiki said the memorial area will be used to bury bodies that will not have been identified by their families.

The CS also indicated that once legal barriers are removed, a Commission of Inquiry, already established by the President, will initiate proceedings to hold public officials accountable for any actions or inactions that may have contributed to the occurrence of the atrocities.

CS Kindiki confirmed that a 4,000 acre section of Chakama Ranch, which was the focal point of numerous shallow graves, remains designated as a crime scene.

Plans are underway to secure this area by fencing it.