Grief and anger rented the air during the burial of Caleb Kiplangat, a former first-year student at the Technical University of Mombasa who was buried in Kobel village, Bomet Constituency on Saturday, October 26.
Caleb met his death under mysterious circumstances with Mombasa Police officers citing murder, drowning, and suicide as possible causes of the 20-year-old death.
The body of the mechanical engineering student was discovered floating at a Mombasa beach, on Sunday, October 20, four days after he was reported missing.
However, the family of Caleb distanced themselves from claims that their kin committed suicide.
"We dismiss with contempt the theory and the speculations that Caleb committed suicide. This was a boy who had never been suicidal and never lacked anything in his life," Pius Rono, the father of the late student stated.
Caleb's father went ahead and revealed that his son phoned the mother and informed her that he would not make it home for the December holidays.
"He told his mother that the December holiday will be brief and he did not see the need of coming home. He instead invited her to visit him in Mombasa," Rono divulged.
Bomet leaders who were present during the burial criticised the administration of the Technical Mombasa of Mombasa (TUM) and blamed them for not taking the death of the student seriously.
"This is not going to end with his burial. We are going to demand answers from the university and the Ministry of Education. Our children must be safe wherever they go to study," Bomet Woman Representative Joyce Korir declared.
"It's a great shame for the university not to accompany the body of the student to this place. I was once a dean of students at Moi University and I always went to the homes of students who died while studying," Bomet Senator Christopher Langat weighed in on the matter.
Senator Langat described the absence of a representative from the university where the late student studied as a great shame.
"As a leader in the Senate, we will demand answers from this university," Senator Langat who is the Senate Education Committee chairman added.
The late Caleb had barely completed two months of his studies in Mombasa when he met his untimely death.
The late student was eulogised as a bright young man who was among the top 2018 KCSE performers at Kericho High School.
