This archive report was first published on 12 November 2019.
On November 12, 2019, a body of an infant was discovered during the ongoing cleanup of the Nairobi River in the Korogocho area.
The grim discovery marked the 17th body retrieved from the river since Governor Sonko launched the Nairobi River cleanup exercise early last year, according to Nairobi county government spokesman Elkana Jacob.
So far, the bodies of 13 infants and four adults have been retrieved from the river.
“Right now we are still in shock,” said Fredrick Okinda, chairman of Komb-Green Solutions, the organisation behind the clean-up. “One of us saw the floating baby and we rushed to save him as a team. We managed to recover him but he was already dead.”
This is the ninth baby his organisation has found in one section of the river in a few months.
Okinda believes that this was another aborted baby and has previously blamed illegal clinics for some of the bodies found.
Abortions are illegal in Kenya, unless a woman’s life or health is in danger.
The news coincides with the first day of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which sees thousands of experts in sexual and reproductive health gather in Nairobi.
