Marigat Sub-County Hospital, thugs broke into the facility and stole trays used for preserving the dead. Photo: KBC.
Bizzare theft after residents in Baringo Southin Baringo County were left in shock and agony, after unknown men broke into Marigat Subcounty Hospital and made away with mortuary trays and power cables.
The mortuary was the only facility within Baringo South, serving residents from Tiaty and Baringo South, now forced to look for services in the Nakuru, Eldama Ravine and Kabarnet.
According to Muganga Musango, a medical officer at the facility, they had planned to resume full operation of the facility soon, before the theft happened, which has now further crippled the plan.
Musango said that the thieves took all the eight fridge trays used to preserve the body, making it difficult to run mortuary services.
“We were planning to re-open the facility to start operations before thieves broke into the facility, and made away with trays used to preserve the bodies in the mortuary. All the eight trays were stolen, and without them the trays it is difficult to preserve the bodies,” Musango said.
According to the Monrovia village elder Daniel Chelangat, the recent high demand for scrap metals is among the reason structures are being vandalised in the area, further becoming a menace as children are dropping out of schools to look for old metals to sell.
“We blame the people buying scrap metals for bringing all these challenges we are currently in. Children in the area have dropped out of schools for the search of metal,” Chelangat stated.
He however said that the local administration is working to curb the challenge of scrap theft, sentiments echoed by Jackson Edome a resident of Monrovia, who called on residents to be on a high alert and report any person involved in the vandalism of the sol facility in the area.
Elders from the region condemned the act, terming it as a taboo, calling on security agents in the area to carry out investigations and bring perpetrators to book.
The action cripples the government’s efforts to bring services close to Kenyans, with Perkerra Irrigation Scheme, one of the oldest agricultural projects in the country and critical in fighting food insecurity in the country also not spared.
