Who killed Ferdinand Ongeri the deputy Kisumu branch secretary of Kenya National Union of nurses and why?
This is the question that his family and nurses continue to ask as they seek justice.
A herdsman found the 40-year-old's body dumped in Kimondi Forest in Nandi county on Saturday after a fruitless search on Friday by colleges friends and family members.
The nurses yesterday held a peaceful procession along major streets demanding justice for their colleague. They asked relevant authority to speed up investigations and ensure that the culprits are brought to book.
“We are not going to settle and serve the people of Kisumu when the security of nurses is not guaranteed,” Knun Kisumu branch secretary general Maurice Opetu said.
Opetu said Ongeri's throat was slit, his neck broken and there were bruises all over the body and a cut on his mouth which showed he was tortured.
He told the press that the police told them that Ongeri might have been killed elsewhere and the body dumped in the forest.
Ongeri went missing just after successfully negotiating a promotion deal for nurses with the county's Health department on Wednesday.
According to the union, he was last seen with a boda boda rider who dropped him off at Kiboswa market on the Kisumu-Kakamega highway at 3pm on the same day.
“His dream was to see that every nurse and worker was promoted after have stagnating in particular job group. The promotion, re-designations and confirmation of nurses on contract, this is what the county can do for us to honor him,”Opetu said.
Union official Ann Owiti said Ongeri's mother called her to confirm if she had spoken to their son because they had not talked to him for two days which was unusual.
“I was also concerned and since he was a person who was on the Internet every now and then, I checked in but released that he logged in last on Wednesday evening. I got concerned and called our colleagues to know if he had been to work on Wednesday and Thursday, but they told me they had not seen him. It is then I realised something was amiss," Owiti said.
She said his landlord also told her that he had not seen Ongeri for two days . This is when they reported the matter to the police and a search began.
Opetu said he contacted some officers who had tracked his phone and he was told the signal was last seen at 6.24pm on Wednesday at Kaptumo in Nandi.
"After getting this information, I informed officers at Dago police officers and teamed up with those from Kiboswa started searching for him," he said.
On Saturday around 11, someone updated information that a male, naked body had been found in the forest and taken to Kapsabet mortuary.
“Our collegues from Nandi and Kericho went to the morgue and identified Ongeri's body,” Opetu said.
On Sunday, Ongeri's brother Polycarp Ondiek said the family was yet to come to terms with his death. He said they do not know why he was killed.
Ondiek said his brother lived a peaceful life and had no problem with anybody
Nandi police commander Samson ole Kine said identification documents were found on the body.
The body has been taken to Jaramogi Teaching and Referral Hospital. Ondieki will be buried at his home in Manga, Kisii.
By the time of going to the press, nurses were meeting the county commissioner and county government health representative.
