Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya’s largest referral facility, has seen more than one gruesome murder unfold within its wards in 2025.
In February, Gilbert Kinyua, admitted to Ward 7B since December 2024, was discovered with his throat brutally slit. Critically, CCTV cameras were reportedly nonfunctional at the time.
Then, on July 17, another patient—a physically disabled man—was found killed in Ward 7, with throat injuries mirroring the earlier case.
A suspect, Kennedy Kalombotole, has been arrested. He was reportedly still in the hospital long after discharge due to bureaucratic confusion. KNH says it was holding him at the direction of investigators. But even with his arrest, responsibility cannot be outsourced.
This is a catastrophic failure of basic duty: safeguarding vulnerable patients. Security must be robust. Staff must be vigilant. Surveillance systems cannot be allowed to remain down. That a victim can be killed undetected reveals institutional collapse.
Kenyan citizens visiting public hospitals deserve public accountability. The hospital board members and senior management must answer for repeated failures. It is not enough to tweak procedures and promise better CCTV. Trust has been shattered.
Heads must roll not to shame, but to restore trust, to send a message that human life is not negotiable.
No one entering KNH should fear for their life. Until that fear is banished, leadership has failed.
Quote of the Day: "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn!" —National poet of Scotland Robert Burns died on July 21, 1796
