The family of Constable Kevin Kibet Torongei, one of the 11 General Service Unit (GSU) officers who died in the Naivasha tragedy, has asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to improve the communication process used in delivering news about deceased government officers.
Torongei’s family complained that they were not informed of their son’s death and only came to learn about it after receiving condolence messages from members of a local WhatsApp group.
“I had not known that my brother was among the deceased. But I started getting anxious when I heard that some GSU officers attached to State House were among the casualties,” narrated Richard Torongei, a brother to the deceased.
He added that at around 10am on Monday, he received condolence messages directed to his family on WhatsApp.
This was after the government had made public the names and ranks of the 11 Presidential guards who perished alongside 30 other Kenyans during the Saturday night accident.
“We only learnt of his death on WhatsApp. We saw his name among the list of GSU officers who died in the tragedy in our local WhatsApp group called “Trans Mara Massive”.
Richard stated that it was sad that the government had not officially informed them of their brother’s death, more than 24 hours after the fatal incident.
“He was attached to State House and lived there. Despite dedicating most of his time to his job, the government has not bothered to inform us of his demise,” he complained.
Richard reported that members of his family were traumatised of learning the death of their kin, adding that their 70-year-old mother was the most affected.
The family has now called on the President to ensure that such news will be delivered officially and directly to the affected families.
“It is only fair for affected families to get the right messages directly from the government instead of getting messages on social media,” he affirmed.
