Unsolved deaths, betrayed families and long wait for Coroners Service

The role of coroners could be critical at a time the country is hit by a wave of unexplained killings that have left families heartbroken and a nation living in fear.

It is now close to eight years since the National Coroners Service Act, 2017 was enacted. The passing of the Act paved the way for the establishment of the National Coroners Service, whose key mandate is to investigate mysterious deaths and police conduct.

The government’s inertia in setting up this key link in unraveling suspect murders, raises eyebrows as more and more Kenyans continue to meet horrifying deaths. 

More worrying is the fact that most killers go unpunished, due to a lack of credible and reliable investigations pinning them to these executions, which have become alarmingly frequent.

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Such is the chilling experience many families undergo across the country where investigative agencies appear either clipped, complicit or compromised.

This was the main reason human rights groups pushed for the need to have coroners complement the work of the National Police Service and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), whose role is to investigate complaints related to disciplinary or criminal offences committed by police officers.

Questions abound as to why the government is reluctant to establish the National Coroners Service.

In the wake of mysterious deaths, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances, human rights crusaders and security experts are calling for the immediate establishment of the office, faulting the government for its lukewarm approach to the matter.

“Every year we go without the Coroner Service is time lost in terms of conducting investigations and preserving evidence, yet we lobbied for the law to operationalise this critical office Kenyans want, it behoves government to ensure it is set up,” says Demas Kiprono, Deputy Executive Director, International Commission of Jurists - Kenya.

A coroner is a qualified person or official whose duty is to investigate the cause of any death occurring due to unnatural causes or foul play. For investigative purposes, the coroner is given powers to collect forensic and other evidence and to preserve it as necessary.

Under section 24 of the National Coroners Service Act, a person shall immediately notify a coroner if he or she believes that the deceased person died as a result of violence, misadventure, negligence, misconduct or malpractice.

Lack of goodwill

Sadly, this is not applicable in Kenya where the relevant authorities have shown a lukewarm response towards the need to hire coroners.

Following the aftermath of the Gen Z protests last year, Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo pledged to recommend to President William Ruto to initiate the process of operationalising National Coroners Service.

Dr Omollo was reacting to concerns that no one was being held culpable for the deaths that occurred. Police have denied being behind most of the killings that left 60 people dead, according Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) in a report, which revealed that 74 protesters were forcibly disappeared between June and November 2024.

KNCHR documented 1,376 arbitrary arrests and 610 injuries sustained by protesters, including deep fractures, bullet wounds, soft tissue damage, and tear gas inhalation.

“Most injuries were inflicted by security officers. However, 25 cases of injuries to security officers caused by protesters were also documented,” said KNCHR Vice Chairperson Raymond Nyeris during the report’s launch about two months ago.

The report further raised alarm over a surge in femicide, with at least 97 women murdered in the past few months. Dr Nyeris described the brutality of the killings as troubling.

“A shocking case involved the discovery of 10 decomposing female bodies at Kware dumpsite in Nairobi’s Mukuru area,” he noted while calling for expedited investigations to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“We continue to witness cruel, degrading, and inhumane treatment of individuals. Graphic videos and photos highlight this trend, risking a return to the dark days of impunity,” he stated.

The country has had a history of bungled or cold cases, and that is why there is need to bring on board coroners, says George Musamali, a security analyst. “We need that office as early as yesterday because it’s very important. Unfortunately, there is no goodwill and there are some people who don’t want that office for obvious reasons,” he noted.

According to Musamali, Kenyans stand to benefit from the National Coroners Service since it will hire an array of experts among them pathologists, homicide investigators, prosecutors and psychologists among others who will be able to deploy their skills and knowledge at various levels.

“For instance, the best practice is that whenever a body is discovered, a pathologist must be at the scene with the homicide investigators documenting the scene. But this is hardly the case; everything is done by police officers who end up contaminating the scene,” he noted.

In the absence of coroners, the alternative has been having public inquests established under sections 385 and 387 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Although inquests are a proper court procedure employed to investigating unclear deaths, they have not been reliable as some of the witnesses lined up to testify withdraw after developing cold feet.

State Law Office laxity

“This is a disservice to Kenyans. Eight years later, the government has yet to operationalise the Coroner Service, which is meant to remove the role of preserving evidence from the police. Clearly, there is a lack of political goodwill from the President,” said Peter Kiama, Executive Director of Haki Yetu Organisation.

While citing the frequent mysterious death and femicide cases to a weak legal framework, Kiama blames the State Law Office, for not being interested in expediting the process of having coroners.

It is understood everything is in place – the organisation structure of the National Coroners Service has been prepared complete with the human resources and career progression guidelines.

“I think the Solicitor General needs to be put to task and explain why the Coroner Service is not being established. The Ministry of Health had proposed a pathologist to guide the operationalisation of office, but other various government institutions including the Public Service Commission need to play their role towards ensuring the office is established,” noted Kiama.

Last year, Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor led a team that moved around the country collecting views on the draft National Coroners Service (Amendment) Bill, 2023 that sought to amend the National Coroners Service Act, 2017.

The amendments were necessary due to ambiguity in some of the provisions in the Act. The views collection process was completed and the final draft Bill forwarded to the State Law Office.

Efforts to reach Solicitor General Shadrack Mose for an update on progress made so far proved futile – neither did he respond to a text message nor pick calls.

Lack of political goodwill and legal bottlenecks notwithstanding, the Act when implemented, will boost the accuracy and reliability of investigations surrounding suspicious deaths.

Section 30 (4) of the Act requires that for purposes of criminal investigation and subsequent prosecution of an offence under any written law, the coroner shall submit an interim report to the National Police Service (NPS) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) or any other relevant authority within twenty-four hours of notification of death.

And within seven days, the coroner should submit the final report to the DPP and police. The coroner’s report can be relied on as primary evidence on the cause of the investigated death. Under Section 35, any person who is dissatisfied or disagrees with the report or findings of the coroner is allowed to seek a second opinion at his or her cost.

As long as the government is disinterested in having a running Coroner Service, cases of unexplained murders are likely to continue since it is clear the much hyped National Forensic Laboratory launched on June 13, 2022 has not been that useful.

Billed as a game changer in crime management and prevention, the imposing lab at Mazingira Complex along Kiambu Road has 10 specialised laboratories complementing each other.