Kakamega town, on Wednesday, witnessed a unique demonstration as coffin sellers took to the streets over reduced sales in the town.
The protesters linked their diminishing sales to sabotage by the Kakamega County Hospital morgue attendants.
They stated that the attendants sourced for coffins for the potential clients and even directed bereaved families to buy coffins from other sellers outside the town.
The aggrieved group claimed the morgue attendants have brokered a symbiotic deal between them (attendants) and the ‘foreign’ coffin sellers.
According to K24 digital, the protesters carried caskets on their shoulders, walking on foot, and riding Boda Bodas, the Kakamega coffin makers traversed the town while wailing.
They claimed this was to capture the attention of their “saboteurs” and, consequently, “warn them against their deeds”.
The business of dealing with the dead of late has become so lucrative thus the bitter exchange.
In a past interview with The Standard, Caroline Wanjiru, a coffin seller in Huruma Nairobi confessed to making between Ksh80,000 and Ksh100,000 per month.
Despite having lost several of her friends due to her line of work Wanjiru has no regrets as it helps her pay her bills and her children have no problem with it.
In future, she hopes to open her own mortuary. But she has no plans to be buried in any of her coffins.
