A senior police officer who was found dead in a hotel in Washington DC while on a mission to plan the deployment of Kenyan police in Haiti was Friday buried at his home in Keroka, Nyamira County.
Walter Nyamato Nyankieya, 38 was found dead in his room on February 13.
He was among a team of officers sent to Washington for a meeting when he was found dead, his colleagues said.
Some family members have claimed they were not informed about the cause of the death. Nyankieya was buried on March 15.
“We need to know what happened to our son," Philip Nyamato, the deceased's father said.
“We have asked for a provisional report from the government on his death but they still haven't responded weeks after his passing."
Representatives from the National Police Service present at the funeral mourned Nyankieya, terming his death regretful and unfortunate.
"Walter was an officer who had respect for authority. He was firm and forward in his dealings with his colleagues and juniors," Administration Police Director, Operations, Geoffrey Otunge said.
Other colleagues described him as a hard-working officer.
Officials from Kenya and Haiti had met in the U.S. to set a deadline for the arrival of Kenyan forces to Haiti as well as drafting a memorandum of understanding when the incident happened.
The Kenyan delegation was led by former Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet who is also the deputy National Security adviser to Ruto.
US officials told Kenyan counterparts preliminary findings showed Nyankieya died out of blood pressure-related complications.
They picked samples from his body for toxicology tests which will give a comprehensive report on the same.
It may take up to six months to get the test report.
“Had there been foul play we would not have had the body in time. They said the cause was blood pressure issues,” said an official aware of the issue.
Kenya plans to deploy more than 1,000 officers to Haiti to lead a multi-national mission to contain gangs terrorising the country.
