By Wasike Elvis
John Bor, the long serving Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Executive Secretary for Wareng Branch has died.
While confirming his death, the current Wareng KNUT Executive Secretary Thomas Yego said that the deceased died after a short illness.
“My friend and brother John Bor, the long serving Wareng KNUT Executive Secretary died after a short illness. It has not yet been established the disease he succumbed to but investigations are underway to unearth the same,” said Yego while speaking to the press.
Bor who vied for the just concluded KNUT elections was defeated by Yego who was then his deputy.
“On behalf of myself and the teachers of Wareng to whom I represent, I want to send our message of condolences to the friends and families of Mr. John Bor who was a hardworking and God fearing individual, may God give you strength during this hard time of mourning,” he added.
The Wareng KNUT Executive Secretary described the deceased as a vibrant leader who was ready to fight for the rights of teachers whenever they had a challenge.
“I worked with the deceased for many years. He was a down to earth person and only stood up to defend teachers’ rights whenever they were infringed; he went to an extent of using his own funds to help those in need. We will indeed miss his services, RIP bro,” he added.
He noted that the family will have a fundraising on Saturday to cater for hospital and burial expenses.
“The burial of our friend and colleague will take place at his rural home in Ngeria, Kaptum on April 2 and we expect leaders from all divides to grace the occasion,” said Yego.
Being associated with educational institutions, writer Wasike Elvis should have avoided alarming readers with his hard-hitting headline. Nothing wrong in heading this piece “…so & so has passed on” or “so & so has gone to rest with his/her ancestors”. These align with African way of talk. Readers would get details from content body, where hopefully this writer would indicate/imply age of the deceased because passing on at 80+ is expected whereas sudden death at 30+ is hard to take. So educated editors must stop being ‘alarmists” just to sell their product. It is not African after all.