A family in Gilgil, Nakuru County, is struggling to bring back the body of a 26-year-old woman who died in unclear circumstances in Saudi Arabia four months ago.
Their pain has been exacerbated because the agent who linked her to a job in the Middle East country cannot be found.
Miriam Hannah Njeri, from Emburua village, died eleven months after arriving in the kingdom. Her family only learnt about her death in August from the woman’s friend, who is also said to be stranded in Saudi Arabia.
Her lifeless body was found on the floor at a deportation centre where she was being held as she waited to be sent back to Kenya after being mistreated by her boss.
Mr Karanja said he visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices two days after receiving the news and was promised that his wife's remains would be repatriated to Kenya for burial but that has not happened.
He said his frequent visits to the ministry’s offices and his phone calls inquiring about the status of the process had been fruitless, leaving the family devastated and unsure whether they will give their relative a decent burial.
Mr Karanja said that when he asked the ministry about the status of the matter, he was told that there was a case between the hospital that received the body of Ms Njeri and the deportation facility, thus holding the repatriation process.
He was told that the deportation centre had alleged that Ms Njeri died while receiving treatment, while the hospital indicated she was received at the facility already dead.
“I have been a frequent visitor at the ministry offices, but what I am getting is that I should just wait,” Mr Karanja said.
Mr Jackson Karanja from Elementaita in Nakuru County, husband of Ms Miriam Hannah Njeri who died under mysterious circumstances while at a deportation facility in Saudi Arabia.
Photo credit: Mercy Koskei | Nation Media Group
“The deportation centre does not want to accept that she died there because they will be told to cater for all expenses.”
Mr Abdulaziz said in his report that a letter he had received from the police showed that the body was found surrounded by copious blood and bleeding from the mouth and nose, with an injury on the forehead and head.
The police report said Ms Njeri was trying to escape from the fourth floor of a building through a space that held an air conditioner but she fell and died.
“We can say that the death of the above-mentioned occurred as a result of a fall from a height and the resulting traumatic injury to the head, accompanied by multiple fractures of the skull bones, lacerations in the brain and hemorrhagic strokes in the brain …,” the report said.
Mr Karanja said his wife left Kenya in April last year after attending a three-week training in Thika organised by an agent who was facilitating her trip to the kingdom. She had been convinced by her friends that she would be paid well.
He said he last spoke with his wife in July, when she requested Sh40,000 to facilitate her return to Kenya, citing mistreatment, lack of food and congestion at the facility where she stayed for one week.
“When we last spoke, she just wanted to come back home to see our children. She was not suicidal; nobody has reached out to explain to me what really happened to my wife,” he said.
The couple were married for 10 years and were blessed with two children, who are now under the care of their grandmother.
