Nakuru County has issued a 21-day ultimatum for the collection of 27 bodies lying unclaimed at the county public mortuary, warning that it will move to court to seek permission for their disposal if no relatives come forward.
In a public notice signed by County Health Public Health Officer Waithera Mwangi, the devolved unit released details of the deceased, including where they died, dates of death and the stated causes.
The notice explained that the bodies have remained at the facility for more than three months, straining services at the mortuary.
“The following 22 adults and 5 infants’ unclaimed bodies are at the Public Mortuary (Annex funeral home). Interested members of the public are asked to identify and collect the bodies within 21 days; failure to which Nakuru County will seek authority for disposal,” the public notice added.
The list shows that while some of the deceased had been identified at the time they were taken to the mortuary, others remain unknown.
Several bodies marked as unknown were recovered by police without any identification documents.
Mwangi said the county had used all available means to trace relatives but had not succeeded.
“If next of kin are not traced, the disposal will be done after the expiry of twenty-one (21) days from the date of this letter at the Nakuru South Cemetery,” the notice read in part.
The county government stated that it will first obtain a court order before carrying out any burial, in line with the Public Health Act, Cap 242 and the Public Health (Public Mortuaries) Rules of 1991.
Under the law, no person is allowed to keep a body in a public morgue for more than 10 days. If a body stays unclaimed for 21 days, the hospital may dispose of it after securing a court order and issuing a 14-day public notice.
The Act also states that anyone who keeps a body in a public morgue beyond 10 days must pay a daily penalty of one hundred shillings to the Medical Officer of Health.
The notice further revealed that the causes of death among the 27 include suicide, road accidents, murder, drowning, shooting, natural death, sudden death, abortion and mob injustice. Only a few of the cases were listed as natural deaths.
Every year, between 200 and 300 unclaimed bodies remain in Nakuru County mortuaries.
The bodies are often buried in public cemeteries or mass graves after the notice period lapses, usually without family rites.
The county says this step is taken to free up space and prevent congestion at the facilities.
Medical schools that have proper legal approval from the Ministry of Health are allowed under the Anatomy Act Cap 249 to receive unclaimed bodies for training and research.
Mwangi noted that the county is spending large sums of money to preserve bodies that remain uncollected for up to four months.
Police officers play a key role in fingerprint identification, especially in cases where the deceased has no documents. Once families are informed, a postmortem is conducted by a coroner before the body is released.
Investigations into sudden or unexplained deaths in Kenya are often handled through public inquests under Sections 385 to 387 of the Criminal Procedure Code. In 2017, Parliament passed the National Coroners’ Service Act to guide how reported deaths should be investigated.
However, the law has not been fully put into effect due to a dispute over which cabinet secretary should appoint the coroner-general and set terms for the Coroners’ Service.
