Recovery efforts to resume at Kware quarry amid criticism and new support

The process of retrieving bodies dumped at an abandoned Kware quarry that turned into a dumpsite will resume on Wednesday, homicide detectives have confirmed to The Eastleigh Voice.

The process resumes after an over two-week hiatus by the police and a slightly over a week hiatus by the local retrievers.

It is expected that the local young men involved in the retrieval process will be assisted by officials from the Kenya Red Cross and the National Police Service who hoped to be better prepared for the exercise after heavily relying on the young men during the previous retrievals.

At the same time, Mukuru Justice Centre has confirmed receiving more technical support from well-wishers to help locals assist the police in the retrieval process.

Amongst the items received are a raft boat, face masks, synthetic gloves, safety belts, overalls and safety shoes to protect the team executing the exercise.

The team retrieving the bodies has faulted the County Government for its failure to have its emergency and rescue teams take over the process or at the least provide them with protective gear.

The city-county in its last update on the body discovery said it would reward the industry and bravery of the young men who helped with the retrieval process and that it would offer psychological support to families of the deceased persons once identified as well as offer its disaster management unit to work with the community but locals claim that help is yet to be seen.

The bodies were discovered on July 10 when Josephine Owino reported to the officers at Kware police station that she dreamt that the body of her sister had been dumped at the site.

A search at the site led to the discovery of the first two bodies, both of which have been identified and a probe into how they were killed kicked off.

Kware dumpsite as of July 30, 2024. Photo Mary Wambui

The dismembered bodies were found wrapped in sacks and polythene bags of different colours in the pit that is adjacent to the Kware police post.

A visit to the site on Tuesday by a Team from The Eastleigh Voice revealed that normal activities resumed as the retrieval process halted at the pit, with persons who scavenge for items at the site back and those who dump trash at the site busy doing so, raising questions over the integrity of the evidence the site holds as a crime scene.

A police barricade tape that had been placed is scattered in pieces at the site where curious onlookers keep flocking to check if anything is going on.

Tied polythene bags and sacks suspected to be holding more bodies are visible from the top.

Locals say they feel abandoned by the government, the delay in the resumption of body retrieval left them with questions with some calling on authorities to handle the matter once and for all.

"This site has become a constant reminder of death and evil happenings that as we yearn for justice hope to get over as fast as possible so that we can move on with our lives," one of the persons who helped in the retrieval process said.

On July 26, the social justice centre explained to Kenyans on social media that the locals had stopped the search process to allow the state to provide the necessary machinery that would enable them to continue the process as more bodies were still on site.

Locals have also questioned why the police headquarters' order to relocate all police officers stationed at the Kware police station at the time the deaths were discovered was delayed.

The Eastleigh Voice has however confirmed that the process is being effected in batches to allow for the smooth transfer of roles and files to the incoming officers. New officers were still reporting to the station.

The discovery of the bodies at the site adds to the growing number of unexplained deaths in the country.

On Monday, human rights organisations said the registry at the Nairobi Funeral Home (formerly City Mortuary) has recorded a rise in bodies booked at the facility.

"When we perused the register from June 25, we confirmed that there were 51 unknown bodies that had been brought in. Up to this moment, those bodies are not known as to whom they belong," said Hussein Khalid, executive director of Vocal Africa.

In its last update on anti-government protests, the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) said it has documented cases of 60 persons as missing from the demos.

A total of 17 body parts that were collected from the site have since been taken through a post-mortem process that showed that they did not bear bullet wounds.

Some were severely decomposed making it difficult to tell their cause of death.