Drama as City Mortuary refuses to accept unidentified bodies from police
Morgue. Courtesy photo
There was drama at the City Mortuary on Wednesday between the Nairobi City County government and the National Police Service (NPS) over the delivery of unidentified bodies to the facility.
Police were blocked by the county officers who insisted that the morgue was full.
The move is likely to impede police work as officers take bodies collected from scenes of crime and accidents to the morgue.
The officers were left stranded for the better part of the day and were forced to keep the bodies in their vehicles as they were denied access to the facility.
When it dawned, on the officers that they had nowhere to take the body, they opted to come back to City Mortuary at night. But again, they were denied access.
The junior officers had no power and their bosses were forced to get to the facility. They were too denied access.
As City Hall would have it, there is no space at the morgue. They say the mortuary is full, as it currently holds 607 bodies against a capacity of 184 bodies.
Staff at the mortuary were afraid of letting in any police vehicle with unknown bodies, with the directive issued from City Hall putting them at risk of losing their jobs.
One officer was ordered to write reasons why he accepted two bodies brought in by police officers from Ruai on Wednesday night.
After a few calls to the county heads, the unknown body after 9 hours of waiting would be allowed in, leaving questions on whether the City Mortuary is full, and where the police take unknown bodies that they encounter in the course of duty.
Last month, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) moved to court seeking to stop the Nairobi City County government from disposing of 120 unclaimed bodies lying at Nairobi City Funeral Home, formerly City Mortuary, until their identities are ascertained.
The society said the county government published the notice of intention to dispose of the bodies in August, without giving people adequate time to identify the unclaimed bodies.
The lawyers’ body claimed the move is actuated by "sheer malice, ill-will with intent to conceal atrocities meted on the unclaimed bodies".
“Pending the hearing and determination of this Application infer-parties, an order of mandamus do issue compelling the Respondents to conduct a DNA sampling process to ascertain the identity of the 120 Unclaimed Bodies lying at Nairobi City Funeral Home (City Mortuary),” the LSK says in the petition filed at the High Court on Monday.
The LSK pointed out that many youths were shot dead and others were still missing since June 25, 2024, during the protests against the Finance Bill, 2024.
LSK chief executive officer Florence Muturi said many of the young protesters who died in Nairobi were taken to the Nairobi City Funeral Home.
She said many families have been looking for their loved ones who went missing since the protests began.
The LSK has sued the Nairobi City County government, Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss Mohamed Amin, Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa, the Inspector-General of Police and Attorney-General Dorcas Oduor.
The society wants the court to compel the county government to issue a proper notice granting members of the public 120 days to identify and collect the unclaimed bodies and before disposing of any unclaimed bodies, the government should conduct mandatory DNA sampling.
