Forensic examinations carried out on bodies recovered from a mass grave at Makaburini Cemetery in Kericho County have indicated that several of the deceased children died from complications linked to early birth and injuries to the head, even as most of the remains were found in a highly decomposed state that made identification difficult.
The analysis was led by Government Pathologist Richard Njoroge, who reported that the condition of the bodies varied, with only a small number still relatively intact while the rest had deteriorated to an advanced stage.
“They were in various stages of decomposition; only a few were fresh. The other ones were severely decomposed. In terms of age, some appeared in preterms, and the others were normal-term children. In terms of gender, we found eight to be male, 10 to be female, and then we could not determine the gender of the other seven,” he said on Thursday .
The post-mortem process focused first on the 25 children retrieved from the site, where specialists worked through the remains one by one to establish possible causes of death and other identifying details.
Njoroge stated that prematurity was identified as the cause of death in a number of cases, while head injuries were also detected among several of the bodies examined.
“As for the causes of death, 10 were due to prematurity, four had head injuries, and in two cases the cause could not be established. We have completed the autopsies on the children and will begin examining the adult bodies tomorrow,” he said.
The findings are expected to guide the next phase of the investigation, which will include post-mortem examinations of eight adult bodies that were also exhumed from the same grave.
The discovery has also drawn attention from rights groups, with the Kenya Human Rights Commission questioning how the bodies were handled and buried.
The commission said records available to it show that only 13 of the 33 bodies exhumed had proper court authorization for burial, leaving a majority without documented approval.
Authorities confirmed that a total of 33 bodies were recovered from the cemetery, consisting of 25 children and eight adults. However, KHRC indicated that only a portion of these had been cleared through official correspondence linked to Nyamira County Referral Hospital and submitted to the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Nyamira.
According to the commission, the approved burials included eight adults, one child, three fetuses, and a set of stillborn twins, meaning that 20 of the bodies lacked formal authorization.
“The process of interring the bodies took place without proper documentation, coordination, or oversight by county health authorities, raising serious concerns over the roles of hospital officials, cemetery management and law enforcement agencies in this incident,” the commission said.
KHRC further raised alarm over the absence of accountability for the undocumented bodies, noting that no clear explanation had been provided by hospital officials or police regarding their origin or handling.
“This raises concerns about possible state involvement given Kenya’s history of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and cover-ups. So far, neither hospital authorities nor police have accounted for the 20 unidentified bodies,” the commission added.
Investigations remain ongoing as authorities continue with the second phase of post-mortem examinations and efforts to establish the identities of those buried in the mass grave and the circumstances surrounding their deaths.