It is a round 10 am as my host Jane Arama and I arrive at Gesima village, which is few kilometers from Keroka town. This is the home of Protus Mogaka, the 17-year old student of Maranda High School who was among five people killed by road accident recently along Amabuko Keroka road.
The atmosphere is tense except for the sound from calves mooing. The people in the homestead are frightened by the death of their son that occurred on the fateful Sunday evening.
Between the kitchen and the granary stands a fresh mound
“That is the grave of my father whom we buried a few weeks ago before my son returned to school,” said the tearful father of the deceased, Julius Mogaka.
He narrates how he received a phone call from an unknown person who instructed him to rush to Amabuko and ascertain if the boy in Maranda High School uniform at the accident scene was his son.
“People know our family well because we serve many of them since I am a jua-kali artisan at Gesima town,” he said.
The aunt to the late Protus Mogaka, Divinah Nyanchama, agreed that her brother in-law Julius Mogaka went to Amabuko but was again told to go to Gucha Hospital Mortuary where the body had been taken and abandoned at the gate.
“Later on, police brought him back home with the sad news and the whole village began mourning,” she added.
Mogaka said that he had spent a lot of money in the burial ceremony of his father and when his son returned to school, he went without school fees.
The father had sent Sh30,000 to school and promised to clear the remaining balance of Sh7,000 soon but wondered why the school sent his son home after one week of reporting.
He said the school administration sent his late son home without informing him, forcing the boy to walk from school to Bondo town where he borrowed a phone from a trader and called home to request for bus fare.
The parent said he sent Sh 500 for bus fare to Kisumu.
“It was while at Kisumu when my son called me again and that was the last conversation I had with him until I saw his still body in the mortuary,” he added.
He blamed the school administration for sending his son home without informing him but only letting the class teacher to send a message late in the evening to inquire if the son reached home safely.
The bitter father said that the school later communicated to him and promised to assist in the burial ceremony.
He appealed to the Ministry of Education to intervene and help him pursue justice for his son.
He wondered why the school sent his son home in spite of the CS for Education Ezekiel Machogu asking all principals not to send children home for school fees owing to the current economic constraints faced by parents.
Eric Onga’u, cousin to the deceased mourned him as a bright boy who had only few months remained to be a candidate.
By Enock Okong’o
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