When relatives of Kenya Police Reservists killed in the Baragoi massacre received their burial benevolent funds, the family of Mr Thomas Lengeriai was left out.
Mr Lengeriai, 38, was among 60 police reservists from Samburu community who accompanied police in an operation to recover stolen livestock on November 10. He was killed during the ill-fated mission.
After the massacre, his kin discovered his body in a thicket several kilometres from the scene of the attack but decided not to collect it for burial.
“We came across the body on November 16 but unfortunately it had decomposed and part of it had been eaten by hyenas,” his wife Maiwan Lengeriai recounts.

When a warrior dies during a raid among the Samburu community, the body— according to residents of Bendera Village, where the deceased lived— is left to decompose in the forest.
“This has been the tradition among the Samburu where such a body is left to decompose in the bush,” area chief John Lesoroiya explains.
At least seven other home guards were gunned down during the Baragoi massacre.
The seven were buried two weeks ago in a mass grave at Baragoi Cemetery— a ceremony attended by Rift Valley PC Osman Warfa.
Mr Warfa told the family of Lengeriai that their Sh50,000 burial benevolent fund is available once the body of their kin is recovered.
Ms Maiwan,22, said they had gone to search for the body with other people from their village.
“They told me that we cannot collect it since it had decomposed and I had to comply with the rules,” the soft-spoken woman told Saturday Nation at her manyatta on Thursday.
The families of other KPR’s have pocketed the Sh50,000.
Although Ms Maiwan is in her early 20s, she has been left with the burden of educating her three children.
Their first born is in Standard One and the second one is nursery. The last born is still breast feeding.
Her father in law, Mr Lekitere Leneriai, appears not to have come to terms with what happened to his son.
“What I know is that my son was called by the DC and we were told he was missing. We went to search for him in the bush and what we saw was his decomposed body, which we left there,” the 70-year-old man said.
He was quick to explain that it is a taboo among the Samburu to take away a dead body decomposing in a bush for burial.
The late Lengeriai was among the most trusted home guards in Bendera Village.