Joshua Oduor Otieno, a human activist working with Haki Kwetu, a human rights lobby group on Thursday, 29 August called for investigations over the increased number of bodies found dumped in River Yala in the recent past.
This is after a family from Nakuru identified the body of their kin who had gone missing for a week.
The family of the man, a teacher by profession, was able to identify him after his body retrieval went viral on social media.
Activist Joshua revealed that they got intelligence from a fellow activist who noticed a body floating in the river while he was going about his activities.
Immediately he saw the body, he informed his colleagues who subsequently facilitated the body's removal on Tuesday, 27 August. With the assistance of a local diver, the body was recovered and taken to the Siaya County Referral Hospital Mortuary where the family traveled from Nakuru and positively identified it.
Joshua has called upon human rights activists to investigate these occurrences that have become increasingly rampant in the recent past.
The activist expressed concern over the recurring cases of bodies being dumped in the river without detection by security personnel.
Oduor reckons that there could be more bodies in the river especially after another was spotted while they were removing that of the teacher.
A report by Missing Voices revealed that 40 bodies were retrieved from River Yala between 2022-2023. The report was launched by Missing Voice, in partnership with Amnesty International, Defenders Coalition, and Code of Africa among other institutions.
In January 2023, Amnesty International Kenya called for the urgent identification of 21 bodies recovered from River Yala. The bodies, Amnesty said, were at the Yala Hospital Morgue.
Meanwhile, President William Ruto has revealed that he is not privy to any Kenyan who was reportedly abducted. Multiple cases of Kenyans being abducted were reported during the recent spate of anti-government protests across the nation.
President William Ruto directed Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo to take up the matters being raised by Kenyans across the country to ensure that justice is served.
