Two families that had picked the wrong relatives from a private morgue in Migori county have received the go-ahead to exchange the bodies and bury them in their rightful homes. The families of Elsa Awuor Otolo and Elsa Orwa Ogola had a mixup of bodies at Rosewood Nursing home in Rongo Town on January 7 and December 30, respectively.  

Migori senior principal magistrate M.O Obiero on Monday, December 10, issued orders allowing the two families to exchange the bodies after government deterrence. The body of Elsa Awuoro Otolo was exhumed on Monday night at Kobwana village in Homa Bay. The confusion was realised on Friday last week when Otolo's family was about to bury the body of Ogola at Pap Taya in Ndhiwa sub-county. The principal magistrate ordered the nursing home to shoulder all the funeral expenses incurred by both families, including that of exhumation and preservation of the bodies before burial.  Ogola's family destroyed the grave and will be forced to dig a fresh one and perform all the burial rights in accordance with the Luo traditions. 

Kobita sub-location assistant chief Nyabayo Osuja said that they discovered that the body was not theirs when they gathered to pay their last respects to the late Otolo. One of Awuor's granddaughters had gone to view the body at the mortuary and felt something was off, but the mortuary attendants dispelled her suspicions, assuring them it was their kin's body.