A Kenyan police officer who survived one of the world’s most dangerous international peacekeeping deployments was fatally shot by armed bandits in Isiolo while carrying out his duties at home.
CI Somo, attached to the Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) based in Gilgil, had served on the Haiti mission, an assignment that exposed him to severe danger far beyond Kenya’s borders.
He came back. He returned to his family, his colleagues and his country. But it was on familiar ground that his life was cut short.
Officer Who Chose Duty Over Distance
Colleagues who served alongside CI Somo have described the loss as one that cuts far deeper than the professional.
One officer, writing with visible grief, said he had lost not only a workmate but a boss, a man who chose to leave his family behind and travel to serve others with what was described as love, courage and patriotism.
“He left his family far away and came home to serve with love, courage and patriotism,” Ondimu wrote. “His duty was to protect our people and our land. Why should he lose his life for doing that?”
The anguish in those words reflects a frustration shared widely within the service: officers who willingly place themselves in harm’s way, on foreign soil and on home ground, only to become targets of the very lawlessness they are deployed to prevent.
Colleagues Call for Reflection
Beyond the grief, those who knew CI Somo have used his passing to appeal directly to those who carry out such attacks, urging them to recognise the humanity behind every uniform.
“Behind every uniform is a human being, a father, a husband, a brother, a son and a family waiting for him to come home,” one colleague wrote.
“Today, one family is mourning. Colleagues are mourning. The service is mourning. Kenya has lost a dedicated servant,” another added.
The officer’s death has left a gap that colleagues say cannot be easily filled. A man who reportedly survived the volatile conditions of the Haiti deployment, and all the risks that came with it, now leaves behind a family, a unit and a country that must reckon with yet another loss in the line of duty.
Tributes from within the service have called on God to grant him eternal rest and to bring comfort to his family, friends and fellow officers during what has been described as a deeply painful moment. Rest in Peace, CI Somo.
