A family in Ithookwe, Kitui County has cried foul after the Chinese firm constructing the Kitui-Kibwezi Road stormed their house at night and exhumed the body of their kin.
The construction firm claimed that the body was buried on a road reserve.
But the family accused the firm of snubbing a meeting they had scheduled to amicably resolve the sensitive exhumation issue.
Wilson Muthee, the family’s spokesperson, condemned the exhumation, saying that the firm could have struck an agreement with the family for a procedural, culturally-sensitive exhumation.
Because of the perceived ill-treatment of their dead kin, the family said they may suffer psychological trauma for the “deceased’s spirit” may haunt them for disturbing their rest and failing to perform required rituals.
Now, the family wants the government to stop the road construction in that area until they can reach agreeable terms with the Chinese firm.