Concern has been raised by residents of Yala, Gem Sub-County in Siaya over an increase of dead bodies dumped in River Yala.
The residents want a quick investigation conducted over the killings.
“From July last year up to yesterday, my work has just been removing dead bodies from River Yala at that bridge that links Busia and Kisumu. The bodies are normally brought here by vehicles before they are dumped. We have removed around 31 bodies,” Nicholas Okore, a resident of the area told K24 Digital.
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Nicholas, who is a local diver, claimed that the Sub-County government of Gem is aware and when the bodies are dumped, he is always called to retrieve them.
“I fished the latest body from the River on Sunday. It had been wrapped in a sack and the eyes were covered. The local government is aware of all these and has been calling me to retrieve the dumped bodies,” he added.
Human rights activists led by Haki Africa director, Hussein Khalid and Boniface Mwangi have been attracted to the happenings and visited the area.
They questioned why the vehicles and those involved in the act have not been arrested. They have called on the local authority to explain and give details about the happenings.
“We have visited the morgue and seen by ourselves, the bodies were tied with ropes and severely injured. We have also heard of ten bodies each inside a sack. We have seen floating bodies on River Yala. The question we are asking is, do we have a government in place? How comes this is happening with their knowledge? How come the vehicles and those dumping the bodies have never been caught?” Hussein Khalid questioned.
Boniface Mwangi called on the government authorities to take the fingerprints and check on the database to see who the people are.
“People are being killed and dumped in the river. The question is how comes the government is not addressing the issue. Let the government act and do what is required of them. Registrar of a person’s come and take the fingerprints ad check who are these unless the government is the one killing them," the activist added.
Religious leaders led by Archbishop Clement Oluoch of St. Peters Clever Yala have also expressed their worries as the river is a source of water to many residents and they are not sure if the bodies are poisoned.
Yala OCPD, Charles Chacha has confirmed that bodies have always been found dumped inside the river.
