Baringo Family Insists on Reburrying Kin in Ghost School Farm

By JOSEPH KANGOGO

Contentious Koroto Mixed boarding secondary school in Baringo North where a human body was buried before being exhumed owing to court order has finally been shut down indefinitely.

The late 65-year-old man, Paul Kipchabas, allegedly fell sick and succumbed to blood pressure-related illness on March 22, 2021.

Late Paul Kipchabas ironsheet house adjacent to Koroto secondary school, Baringo North 

"While he was alive the deceased had unresolved court land case with the school and when he died, the family had to bury him in his proclaimed farm inside the school, according to his request" family spokesman David Rutto said on Tuesday.

The body was exhumed following a court order on April 9, 2021, and up to date, three years on, it is still lying at Baringo County Referral Hospital-Kabarnet mortuary.

"As family, it is still our plea to the relevant authorities to allow us to have the body of our kin reburied in his own dug grave, according to Tugen traditional culture," Rutto said.

The spokesman said according to Tugen culture, a respected human grave is just dug once and nothing is done to reverse it again. 

He, however, told Rural Times News Tuesday, the upcoming school that was yet to be registered under the ministry of education has been shut down while the ongoing students plus form four candidates class of 2024 transferred to the neighbouring schools.

"Right now, the learning institution has been deserted and rendered a ghost ground. we only insist and request as a family permission to lay our loved one to rest and move on with life, " Rutto said.

Furthermore, he said the mother of the deaced, widow Targok Kipchabas, 89, fell ill since she saw the body of her late son then being exhumed under watch of a contingent of heavily armed police officers.

89 year old late Paul Kipchabas's mother Targok who has become paralysed due to stress.

"Her sickness has escalated into a stroke  paralyzing her entire body. She is now struggling to talk," Rutto said.

The granny still maintains her plea to the government to release the body of her son from the mortuary and see her son reburried in his original grave so as to settle her motherly soul.

However, some elites from the area still oppose the hard stands of the bereaved family accusing them of 'blocking' development of the ambitious upcoming secondary school.

"The deceased was living far away, and when he heard a school was being erected in this community land, he rushed to claim it and even constructed a temporary structure before filing a case in court" area professional said.