The family of the late popular Bungoma artist and political mobiliser Joseph Kubende on Saturday, March 26, refuted claims by the police indicating that his death was a possible suicide.
Speaking to the media, the family representative David Shakama revealed that Kubende had secured a job in the United States and was in the country to meet his friends before travelling.
Additionally, Shakama stated that the political mobiliser had been on official duty in Rwanda adding that they suspected that the death was related to his political affiliations.
“We understand that he might have been targeted by a few individuals, but we want to know the truth, and we want to know the people who were with him.
“When he came to Kenya, he went to meet his friends and they are telling us that he was locked in a house and still jumped from the building,” Shakama stated.
Bumula Member of Parliament (MP) Jack Wamboka stated that police officers had not taken the matter seriously, because there was a CCTV on the building Kubende was reported to have fallen from, but they had reviewed the footage to make arrests.
“Why are the police not using these cameras to arrest people involved in the case? There are no arrests and they have no recorded statements,” Wamboka stated.
Kimilili legislator Didmus Barasa added that he had written to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations(DCI) to transfer the case from Kasarani police station to the DCI headquarters.
The family representative stated that the family would not bury the Bungoma artists until another postmortem was done.
“We are not going to bury Joseph if the government will not tell us the truth,” Shakama added.
The 42-year-old was reported to have fallen from the fourth floor of a building in Roysambu Constituency in Kasarani on Thursday, March 23.
Efforts to rush him to the hospital by well-wishers and friends proved futile as he succumbed to his injuries at the Pangani hospital.
Kubende had just celebrated his birthday four days earlier on March 19 noting.
The report was one of the recent cases of Kenyans falling to their death in the area including the death of Jeff Mwathi who fell from the 12th floor of an apartment in the area.
Detectives who are still investigating the case dismissed claims that he had committed suicide ruling that Mwathi was murdered.
