Kwa Binzaro horror: Madzayo demands probe, police cite security disconnect

Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo has demanded urgent explanations from authorities over the discovery of 32 bodies in shallow graves at Kwa Binzaro forest, warning that the killings point to a deeper crisis.

He insisted that the government must act on more than 200 bodies stored at Malindi Level 4 Hospital and allow families of missing persons to identify them.

“The government should allow people whose kin are missing to come and identify them. If they cannot be identified, then the government should bury them. They should not be left there,” Madzayo said.

The Senate Minority Leader said the deaths were not linked to a religious cult, unlike the Shakahola massacre, but involved victims ferried into Kilifi for burial.

“The people of Kilifi are not complaining that their relatives are missing. These are people who are being killed out of Kilifi and brought in for burial,” he said, challenging police to trace where the bodies are coming from.

Madzayo questioned how the killings could go undetected, noting that less than two years after the Shakahola tragedy that left over 450 bodies recovered, another mass grave has emerged in the county.

“We demand answers from the police and the national government to explain how this horror could happen again, less than two years after the Shakahola massacre shocked the conscience of the world,” he said.

His remarks came on the same day police acknowledged failures in their handling of the Kwa Binzaro case. Police spokesperson Michael Muchiri admitted that weaknesses within the security system had allowed the tragedy to unfold.

“It is a saddening development. There seems to have been a disconnect between intelligence services, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, and the wider administration,” Muchiri told reporters in Nairobi.

Forensic experts confirmed that some of the remains exhumed were relatively fresh, suggesting burials that may have occurred only weeks or months ago.

Authorities have urged families with missing relatives to register details and provide DNA samples at a Kenya Red Cross desk set up at Malindi District Hospital to help in identification.

Madzayo accused security agencies of silence and inaction, saying it was troubling that bodies could be ferried into Kilifi and buried in shallow graves without detection.