Family covers grave of KDF soldier, maintains hope he is alive

Elders from the Njuri Ncheke Council of Elders on Wednesday performed rituals to cleanse the grave of a Kenya Defence Soldier who was assumed dead after DNA tests performed on a body confirmed that it wasn’t his.

Performing the ritual, Njuri Ncheke elder Samson Laawa who led the exercise said that the elders feared the empty open grave could bring a death in the family.

The Njuri Ncheke elders performed the cleansing ritual before filling the grave with soil.

He said the cleansing they conducted will bar all the evil forces that could have brought a curse to the family, adding that they had cleansed the grave together with the homestead to ensure the missing soldier, if alive, will not die.

The funeral of David Gitonga from Twale Village in Meru County, who was said to have been killed during the attack by Al Shabaab militants in El Adde, Somalia aborted at the last minute following a DNA mix-up, leaving the family in confusion.

According to the fallen soldier’s father, Salesio Rinu, they had already identified his body and made funeral arrangements only to be informed that samples from his other children did not match that of the body.

Mr Salesio, who had already lost another son in the military, stated that the family was forced to conduct rituals on an empty grave before covering it.

Gitonga’s father, however, believes his son is alive and will soon come home.

“I believe he is still alive. The Government should speed up investigations and tell us what happened,” said a County’s Education Executive who is also an uncle to the soldier.

The attack that happened on January 15 this year sparked outrage from Kenyans, with many asking the government to withdraw the forces from war-torn Somalia.

However, President Uhuru Kenyatta affirmed his stand that the country would continue pursuing the militants vowing to avenge every life that was lost during the attack.