Kuppet demands answers over teacher's death as questions mount

The late Martina Chepkemoi Ruto, a 40-year-old Swahili teacher at Lalagin Secondary School in Bureti constituency. [Courtesy]

Teachers in Kericho County are demanding answers following the death of their colleague who went missing for two weeks before her  body was discovered in Kimugu River.

Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers (Kuppet) officials want police to investigate the case and bring the killer (s) of Martina Chepkemoi Ruto to book.

The union’s branch executive, Clara Chebet, and the chairman, Johna Korir, want investigators to move with speed and establish the killer, why she was killed and how her body ended up in the river.

Chepkemoi, a 40-year-old Swahili teacher at Lalagin Secondary School in Bureti constituency, was also a mother of four children.

The union officials said the circumstances surrounding her death were too serious to allow investigations to drag on, demanding that detectives provide preliminary answers within 24 to 48 hours.

“We are calling upon the investigation officers to give us the answers immediately because this is a very important time for us. This is the time we were ready to prepare the students to sit for national examinations. But now we are very sad,” Chebet said.

“This is a teacher who was taking a Form class. We are giving the investigation officers not more than 48 hours, if not 24 hours, to give us the reasons that prompted the murder of our teacher.”

Korir questioned how the teacher met her death, pointing to the injuries found on her body as evidence of a violent attack.

“The nature of the stab wounds, with one to the chest, means that the attacker did not want to leave her alive,” he said.

Chepkemoi’s body was recovered from the Kimugu River on the outskirts of Kericho town, about two weeks after she was reported missing.

It was taken to the Kericho County Hospital mortuary, where detectives established that she had five stab wounds on her chest.

Reports that she may have been sexually assaulted before her death have also emerged, adding another disturbing dimension to the case. The allegation, however, had not been officially confirmed by police.

Investigators are now expected to establish where Chepkemoi was before her death, who last saw her alive and how she ended up in the river.

Her disappearance had already triggered a search, with her eventual discovery in the river deepening concerns among colleagues, relatives and the wider school community.

Questions have also emerged over events in her personal life. Before she disappeared, Chepkemoi had applied for a transfer from Lalagin Secondary School and had confided in close associates that she was experiencing marital problems.

It remains unclear whether those circumstances were connected to her death.

The union wants detectives to pursue all possible leads and ensure that no person responsible for the teacher’s death escapes justice.

Kericho East Directorate of Criminal Investigations officer Kennedy Apindi said police were continuing with investigations to establish the circumstances surrounding Chepkemoi’s disappearance and death.

For now, the discovery of her body has ended the search for the missing teacher but left a string of unanswered questions — including who was responsible for her death and what happened to her during the final hours of her life.