Hello

Your subscription is almost coming to an end. Don’t miss out on the great content on Nation.Africa

Ready to continue your informative journey with us?

Hello

Your premium access has ended, but the best of Nation.Africa is still within reach. Renew now to unlock exclusive stories and in-depth features.

Reclaim your full access. Click below to renew.

Subscribe for a month to get full access

Mystery over missing Baby's body deepens, as two morgue attendants face charges

Photo of the main entrance to the Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital Mortuary.

Photo credit: BRET SANYA/MTAA WANGU

By  BRET SANYA

Correspondent

Mtaa Wangu

In the last couple of weeks, there have been numerous questions that have arisen after the mysterious disappearance of Baby Mercy Chepng’eno from the Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital. 

According to the parents they never made a visual confirmation of the dead body to ascertain that their 7-month old baby was dead, therefore sparking fears that the baby may have been swapped. 

Dr. James Waweru the medical superintendent at the hospital however says that the doctor confirmed the death and it was certified.

Related

He also insists that there was a mix up that happened at mortuary because since Monday that week they had released five bodies of infants to their families. 

A mix up would suggest that out of the five bodies, there should be an extra body at the morgue that is unaccounted for and so it would be easy to make a follow up with either of the four families who might have carried the wrong one.

But Dr Waweru said there was no body at the morgue that was unaccounted for. 

This was one of the reasons that facilitated the protests witnessed early in the week, since to many and especially the family the bizarre incident suggested some sort of a cover up by the hospital management. 

Mtaa Wangu approached the County Secretary Dr. Samuel Mwaura with this theory which he dismissed, saying it was now a criminal matter being handled by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI). 

"Apart from this, we are also conducting our own internal investigation and we have some employees who are facing reprimand while others will be facing interdiction over the same issue," he said at a previous press briefing. 

At the same time, mortuary staff members were arraigned on Tuesday in connection with the mysterious disappearance of the seven-month old baby and were charged with the unlawfully hindering the burial of a body.

The chief mortician Michael Ndiritu and his deputy Mary Muthoni were released on a Sh 200,000 bond with an alternative cash bail of Sh.100,000.

The case will be mentioned on March 11.