When 11 unclaimed bodies were quietly buried at the Mukurweini public cemetery on March 23, the county government described it as a routine public health procedure.
But the circumstances surrounding the burial, including claims that the bodies were transported from Kieni Constituency and buried without the knowledge of local leaders, quickly raised suspicions.
Soon, what appeared to be an administrative exercise has escalated into a standoff between Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga and Mukurweini MP John Kaguchia, exposing a deeper crisis over shrinking burial space in the county.
At the heart of the dispute is the decision to bury the bodies from Naromoru Level 4 Hospital to Mukurweini public cemetery belonging to the town's Hospital morgue.
The move, the county government says was necessitated by a shortage of public cemeteries, but MP Kaguchia argues that it was done without transparency or consultation.
"As residents of Mukuruweini people, we are telling the government that the public cemetery in the constituency is ours, we cannot have bodies from other sub-counties being brought here," he said during a bursary registration in Rugi in Mukurweini on Wednesday (today).
Addressing journalists in his office on Wednesday, Governor Kahiga said that the 13 corpses had been ferried to Mukurweini from the Naromoru Level 4 Hospital mortuary by the police on various dates from October 2024 to November 2025.
"Of all these 11 bodies only two were identified but no relatives turned up.
"For instance there is unknown African male that was delivered to Naromoru Hospital morgue on October 20, 2024 by the Solio police post. His body has remained at the morgue since, nobody has come out to claim the body and we don't know to whom it belongs," he said.
The two identified corpses are of Mikugu Mbiria and Thuo Ngugi who were admitted at the morgue on January 30, 2025, and February 20, 2025.
The governor said that the two were brought in from the Naromoru police station and the casualty respectively.
Documents produced by the county government showed that the corpses included three unknown African males, two sets of twins, an infant and an unknown female skeleton.
A signage at the entrance of the Mukurweini town.
Photo credit: Mercy Mwende | Nation Media Group
The bodies were brought into the morgue from Kieni's Solio Police Post, Tagwa Police Post, Chaka Police Station, Naromoru Police Station and a casualty ward.
He cited the Public Health Act that states that anybody that is not collected within 21 days should be disposed. But before the disposal, a 21 day notice should be given to the public to claim the bodies.
A court order issued by the Nyeri Magistrate Court on March 2 shows that the court had allowed the police to dispose unclaimed bodies that had stayed in the public mortuary within the next 21 days.
The suit filed under miscellaneous application No. E011 of 2026 shows that the sub-county Public Health Officers in Kieni East appeared before the court and offered clarity on the bodies to be disposed.
The court then allowed the application and the bodies set out in a public notice dated December 8,2025 and held at the Naromoru Hospital 's morgue be disposed within 21 days of the order.
Governor Kahiga says that on the expiry of the 21 days, the county government approached the court, and sought the court orders to dispose the bodies.
"We decided on Mukurweini because we have a big problem of public cemeteries in the county. The public cemetery in Nyeri town is full and the only available county grounds is Mukurweini," he said.
He said that the bodies were buried at 9am on Monday, March 23.
"Mukurweini MP claims that he should have been informed about the burial but I refer him to the Public Health Act. It does not in any way require the health officials or even myself to be informed, the act requires that the matter be handled by the Public Health officers through the director of health. I think it is important that we dispell the rumours and take time to understand what is happening because this is something that will continue being done," he said.
In his reply, MP Kaguchia questioned how a hospital morgue could host 14 bodies for more than a year and they remain unidentified.
"We all know that the Naromoru Hospital is a new hospital and its morgue too. The morgue only started operating during the Endarasha fire tragedy in September 2024.
He noted the disparities in the figures produced by the county government saying that initial figures showed that only seven bodies had been disposed at the cemetery, but a week later, the number has risen to 11.
He also noted that the governor in the press interview had also noted that the earliest corpse to have been admitted at the Naromoru Hospital morgue was admitted on January 20, 2024. But later recanted his statement saying that it was a typo.
According to Mp Kaguchia, the corpses could be victims of extra-judicial killings.
"We know very well about the Kware killings and how the government handled the matter that up until now the suspect behind the murders has not been arrested.
The same thing is also happening in Kericho, it seems as if there is a conspiracy by governors, that they have been given bodies by the National government to start doing disposal," he said while calling for the exhumation of the bodies.
But Governor Kahiga said that the county government was working on getting alternative land for a public cemetery since the 22 public cemeteries in the county are almost filled.
Wallace Gathera, a local living near the Mukurweini public morgue said that it was usual for government officials to bring in bodies for burial at the cemetery.
"What was however different for this case, was that the grave was dug on Sunday, March 28 from 8 am to noon, but the bodies were not buried on the same day. They were brought in the following day at around 11 am," he said.
He said that the double cabin government vehicle stood outside the Mukurweini Hospital, and the officers dressed in white aprons ferried the body to the site.
"I don't find anything peculiar with the burial, what I suspect is that this issue has been politicised," he said.
