For the family of Lee Delyn Mukundi, the pain of losing their one-year-old son was already an unbearable burden. But when they arrived at the Embu Level Five Hospital mortuary on Monday morning, February 23, 2026, to collect his remains, their grief was met with an unthinkable nightmare: their son was gone.
What followed was a tense, hours-long standoff that exposed a massive administrative failure at the county’s largest health facility and left two families in a state of emotional devastation.
1. “This is Not Our Son”: The Moment of Discovery
The family, hailing from Kigumo Village in Runyenjes, had made all arrangements to lay little Lee to rest. Accompanied by friends and fellow villagers, they presented the necessary documents and a small coffin they had lovingly prepared.
However, the morgue attendants presented them with a body that was visibly different.
The Discrepancy: The child’s father, Kevin Mukundi, immediately noticed the error. The body presented to them was that of a six-year-old boy, whereas their son was barely a year old.
The Fit: In a particularly distressing detail for the mourners, the body of the older child could not even fit into the infant-sized coffin brought by the family.
“We were shocked. We knew our son, and the child they brought us was much older. We told them this is not Lee, but they had no answers for where our son was.” — Kevin Mukundi, February 23, 2026.
2. The Investigation: A Burial in Mbeere South
As tensions escalated and angry mourners threatened to take their protest to the streets of Embu Town, the hospital management launched a frantic audit of their records. The discovery was grim: Lee Delyn Mukundi had already been buried.
It emerged that another family, who had also lost a child, had accidentally been given Lee’s remains. That family, unaware of the mix-up, had proceeded to inter the infant at their homestead in the Kiamuringa area of Mbeere South.
3. The Government’s Response: Exhumation and Accountability
Embu County Chief Officer for Health, Patrick Mukavi, visited the facility to address the distraught family and the gathered media. He formally apologized for the mix-up, attributing it to a clerical error in the identification process during the busy morning hours.
The Resolution Plan
To rectify the error, the county government has committed to several steps:
Legal Action: The county has initiated the legal process to obtain an urgent court order for the exhumation of the body in Kiamuringa.
DNA/Identification: Once exhumed, the body will undergo formal identification to ensure it is returned to the Mukundi family.
Financial Redress: Mukavi pledged that the County Health Department will cover all costs associated with the exhumation and the subsequent second burial for Lee.
4. A History of Systemic Failures?
The incident has sparked a wider conversation about the management of public mortuaries in Kenya. This is not the first time Embu Level Five has faced scrutiny; in recent years, the facility has dealt with controversies ranging from missing bodies to disputes over hospital bills. Residents are now calling for a total overhaul of the morgue’s identification systems, including the adoption of biometric or digital tagging to prevent such traumatic errors in the future.
Conclusion: A Family Left in Limbo
As of Monday evening, the Mukundi family has returned to Kigumo Village with an empty coffin. Their son’s body remains interred in a stranger’s grave miles away, awaiting the slow wheels of the legal system to grant them the right to bring him home. For this family, the healing process cannot begin until they can finally accord Lee a proper and dignified send-off.
