In death, families seek closure, dignity and truth. But across Kenya, a growing number of disturbing cases involving body mix-ups at morgues and funeral homes are shattering that sacred trust, plunging grieving families into fresh anguish and raising urgent questions about accountability in the handling of the dead.
These incidents are no longer isolated mistakes but point to systemic failures in identification, documentation and oversight, often discovered too late after burial rites have already been performed.
What began as a solemn farewell turned into a nightmare In Chotero Village, Mbihi Sub-location of Vihiga County.
The family of Collins Onzere had gathered, mourned and buried a body they believed was their kin.
But weeks later, their grief was violently interrupted when police officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrived with a court order to exhume the body.
It turned out that the body buried on March 23 was not Onzere’s. It belonged to Polycarp Omari Ondieki, a graduate teacher from Kisii County who had gone missing earlier in March before his body was traced to a Nairobi mortuary.
Area Assistant Chief Alex Omenda confirmed the mix-up, saying the Vihiga family had mistakenly collected Ondieki’s body from a city morgue, confusing it with that of their own son who had died in Nairobi.
“The family discovered that the body they buried three weeks ago was not that of their relative,” Omenda said.
Both families, strangers bound by tragedy, have had to endure the painful process of exhumation, body exchange, and reburial.
As arrangements were made to return Ondieki’s remains to Kisii, the Vihiga family prepared to bury Onzere anew this time under the cover of night, in accordance with Maragoli customs.
The case is just one among many.
Three years ago, another family in the same county unknowingly buried the wrong person. The family residing in Kiritu village, North Maragoli burried Risper Kavulani Muyechi, a centenarian woman, believing she was their relative Risper Ayeda Siringi.
The mistake was only discovered one week later when the family from Inyali village, which is three kilometres away, went to collect the body of their kin for burial from Itando Mortuary, only to realise their kin had been wrongly buried.
The family refused to accept a different body presented to them later forcing the exhumation of the previous one buried in Kiritu.
“Family members of the late mama, including her granddaughter, had expressed doubts after noticing differences in complexion,” a local source said.
But those concerns were dismissed and burial rites were conducted in accordance with Salvation Army Church tradition.
In another incident in neighbouring Mulundu village, a family had collected a body which was supposed to be buried in Bunyole.
The burial service was, however, disrupted when police arrived with a court order forcing the family to return the body to Vihiga Funeral Home.
A similar incident happened in Wasundi village where a pastor’s body was wrongly buried in Bunyore. A week later, it was exhumed for burial in his farm 10 kilometres away.
In some cases, the errors have escalated into legal battles.
A family in Kamukuywa village in Kimilili, Bungoma County, was left traumatised after a man they buried turned out to be alive, forcing authorities to exhume the body and return it to Webuye mortuary.
The family had believed that Isaac Wanjala, a blacksmith missing since 2019, was dead after identifying a body resembling him.
“Someone informed us of a murder case involving a person who looked like him. We noted similar marks and took the body,” said Elizabeth Wanjala, the man’s mother.
Two teachers and a businessman helped identify the remains, despite dissenting views.
“Those who brought the body dismissed any doubts,” said family friend Titus Silali.
However, Wanjala later resurfaced after being spotted at a local drinking den, claiming he had been abroad.
Kimilili OCPD Mwita Maria confirmed the exhumation, saying police secured a court order to return the wrongly buried body to the mortuary.
A Milimani court recently ordered the exhumation of a body mistakenly buried in Nyamira County following a mix-up at a Nairobi morgue.
The directive included DNA testing to establish the true identity of the remains of Daniel Obara, a Tanzanian nationality.
In his ruling, the judge directed the DCI to exhume the body which had been wrongly buried for DNA test.
“I have considered the application made by the State. It is abundantly clear that there was a mix-up with the bodies at the mortuary. At face value, it appears the family was handed the wrong body for burial.”
The court ordered that the chief government pathologist oversees the exhumation, conduct a post-mortem and extract DNA samples to ensure each family receives the correct remains.
“I will allow the application dated January 21 and direct as follows: that the chief government pathologist to exhume the body remains of one male adult identified as Daniel Onyoni Obara who was buried in Nyamira County Block Number 149, Manga Settlement Scheme, which is within Nyamira County on December 30, 2025. Postmortem and samples of DNA be extracted for comparison to ascertain the correct body for each family. OCPD Borabu and OCS Manga Police station to provide security for exhumation. The exhumed body remains will be examined and DNA extractions be done at Kenyatta National Hospital or any other place to be advised by government pathologist,” ruled the judge.
For one grieving relative who had travelled from Tanzania, the discovery came at the worst possible moment.
“We had cleared hospital bills, the morgue, and transport. At 3pm, just hours before travel for burial, we realized the body was not ours,” the family member recounted.
In Kisii County, a family in Keroka experienced shock that defied belief.
After months of searching, they identified a body at a morgue, believed it was their missing daughter Sarah, and buried her. But six months later, the daughter called home alive.
The family had buried a stranger.
Local Gusii customs demanded that the wrongly buried body be exhumed before the daughter could return home, triggering yet another painful process of correction.
Perhaps one of the most chilling cases unfolded in Rongo, Migori County.
After months of court battles over the burial of Dan Ayoo, a General Service Unit officer, police had to exhume what was believed to be his remains.
Instead, they found a body of a woman. The revelation stunned investigators and devastated the family, who had fought for months to reclaim their kin’s body.
“What followed were months of tension, court battles and deadly confrontations,” a report noted.
These incidents are not entirely new, but they appear to be increasing.
In 2016, a family in Nyaribari Chache, Kisii County, traced their missing relative’s body to another village where it had already been buried by a different family.
“When the body was brought, I opened the coffin and told the attendant that it was not our kin. They insisted we take it,” said John Bunde, a village elder.
Similarly, the bodies of two elderly men were swapped at a mortuary in Kericho County in 2023, leading to the exhumation of one after burial.
“We were shocked to bury a body that did not belong here. It was a mistake, we are sorry,” said Gideon Langat, a family member.
Experts say these recurring cases point to deeper structural problems within Kenya’s mortuary and funeral systems.
“Poor record-keeping, inadequate tagging of bodies, understaffing, and lack of modern identification technologies such as biometric verification or DNA confirmation are often cited as contributing factors,” said James Mondo.
He notes that in many public mortuaries, especially in urban centres like Nairobi, bodies are stored in large numbers, increasing the risk of confusion.
“Funeral homes, tasked with preparing bodies for burial, rely heavily on documentation provided at the point of collection. Any error at that stage can cascade into a full-blown tragedy,” he added.
Rev Kennedy Adiara, the Pentecostal Assemblies of God- Kenya’s General Superintendent, says beyond procedural failures, the human cost is immeasurable.
Families are forced to relive grief, sometimes multiple times, first at death, then at burial, and again during exhumation.
“Cultural and religious rites are disrupted where, in many Kenyan communities, burial is sacred and final. Exhumation is seen as deeply unsettling, often requiring additional rituals to restore spiritual balance,” Adiara said.
Peter Odhiambo, a legal expert and human rights advocate urges the government to enforce stricter regulations in mortuaries, including mandatory identification protocols, digital tracking systems, and accountability mechanisms for errors.
He urged health institutions and funeral homes to invest in staff training and infrastructure to prevent such mix-ups.
“Families entrust funeral homes and mortuaries with their loved ones at their most vulnerable moment. When that trust is broken, the consequences ripple far beyond administrative error. This is a failure to treat the dead with dignity and respect,” he said.
