A Chinese firm's action of exhuming eight out of 14 bodies buried on a parcel of land marked as a road reserve on Thursday has been a subject of discussion by families in Chuluni, Kitui County.
This was necessitated for the tarmacking of the 172km Kibwezi-Kitui-Mwingi highway that has been ongoing for the past few months.
The new road will be expanded from its original size making it necessary for the construction using extra land that had been marked out earlier as a road reserve in the area.
It was an emotional affair especially when two bodies belonging to Mausu Ngulu's family could not be found during the exhumation.
The bodies that were unearthed were reburied in a procedure overseen by the Chuluni police station OCS Cheruiyot Kisorio.
Mausu's family delayed plans to scoop the remains of their loved ones on Wednesday with a bulldozer and bury them in a mass grave demanding compensation.
Despite this hitch, an earth mover was still seen on Thursday digging out mounds of soil in search of the two missing bodies.
89-year-old Mausu presented journalists with documents from Mutomo law courts ordering the exhumation on Wednesday.
"I was taken to Mutomo (by the contractor to sign papers (affidavits) to request the exhumation. I did not understand what were in the documents so I signed them unknowingly," she lamented.
On the other hand, the family of David Muutu had no problem with the contractor moving the graves of four of their relatives.
Daniel Mumo, the family spokesperson stated that they has been well briefed about the action and allowed it.
"Four relatives were exhumed and reburied in graves we had prepared in anticipation of the exercise.He said
The process will still be experienced by other families on Friday where the contractor's bulldozer is expected to move to the family of the late Daniel Masiseki where four bodies that are buried on a road reserve will be exhumed and reburied.
