A family in Gathanji village, Gatundu North, has been forced to dig up three bodies of their relatives to pave way for the construction of a dam.
The Ksh24 billion Kariminu Dam is being funded by the Government of Kenya and China Exim Bank and will displace 600 households within the area.
In an emotional ceremony attended by relatives, friends, and villagers on Friday, the remains of Joseph Kimemia, his wife Magdalene Nyambura and their son Sylvester Kimani were exhumed.
Sylvester was buried in 2002, while Joseph and Magdalene died in 2005 and 2007 respectively.
According to Peter Mwangi, the deceased’s son, they had been forced to abandon their ancestral land after the government acquired their four acres for the dam, whose construction is already in progress.
“We are at peace as a family and have accepted the dam even though it is tormenting us. What we are requesting is for other affected people to follow our cue and exhume their loved ones,” a distressed Mwangi stated.
On Saturday, the family went on to bury the three bodies in their new land after receiving compensation from the government.
More exhumations are expected in the coming days after 123 households received compensation for their land, while 116 families were yet to be paid in Phase One of the dam project, according to Mwangi.
Another resident, Irene Njoki, promised they would support the project as long as displaced families are compensated by the State.
“It is our hope that the completed dam will be beneficial to us by ensuring that the perennial water shortage becomes a thing of the past. We are also happy since our youth and locals will get jobs in the project,” Njoki asserted.
in 2018, residents went to court to challenge a decision of the National Land Commission to revise compensation rates, causing delays to the construction of the multi-billion-shilling dam.
But early this year, residents and the government agreed to settle the matter out of court, paving way for the start of the project.
