A family in Eastleigh, Nairobi, is demanding justice after their 11-year-old son drowned at Visa Oshwal Primary School in Parklands under unclear circumstances.
The late Iilyaas Abdikarim Ali Mohamud was reported missing on Tuesday evening when his father went to pick him up from school.
His body was later found inside the school’s swimming pool on Wednesday morning.
Police in Parklands and Ministry of Education officials have launched investigations into the incident.
Abdikarim’s mother who spoke to Citizen TV appeared inconsolable as the news of her son’s death at school was too much to bear.
The family said the Grade Two pupil went missing on Tuesday afternoon and the father only knew about it around 4pm when he went to pick him up from school. Efforts to look for him were futile.
“Sasa mimi niliuliza kila pahali tunaangalia hakuna nimekosa sasa huyo coach nimemuuliza alafu anasema hii ni class gani nikamwambia Grade 2. Faith akaleta karatasi na akasema kuwa class yao leo hawana swimming,” the father said.
Omar Hussein, a family friend, added: “Tangu jana amekuwa anatafuta mtoto tukamsaidia kuenda police station Parklands tukaripoti matter…baadaye saa tano ndio wakapata ripoti mtoto amepatikana kwa swimming pool.”
The family has accused the school administration of negligence saying the tragic death could have been avoided if the class teacher was keen enough to notice his absence from class for over an hour considering he was a new pupil in the school.
“Tunaona kuna negligence kubwa sana ilifanywa kwa mfano kama mtoto ametoka darasa na one hour mtoto hajarudi kwa hiyo darasa mwalimu hakuwa suspicious huyu mtoto pengine kuna kitu fulani ilifanyika…hiyo ni jambo moja ambayo hatuwezi kuvumilia,” Mohamed Adan, another family friend, added.
Another concern raised by the family is the lack of CCTV cameras in the swimming pool area despite the school having cameras in other areas.
“Katika administration tuliuliza kama hii shule iko na camera tukaambiwa kuna camera but it does not cover the whole school na hilo ni jambo la ajabu,” said Adan.
The school administration has remained silent over the matter with meetings between members of the board and Ministry of Education officials being held at the institution.
The body of the late Abdikarim was moved to Chiromo morgue by police officers and a post-mortem was conducted.
“All the features are pointing to a case of drowning and we have looked for other injuries, there are no further injuries apart from the features of drowning…so the cause of death is drowning. I would maybe tell the DCI to look for circumstantial evidence to know the manner of death,” Government Pathologist Dr. Peter Ndegwa said.
Family lawyer Danstan Omari termed the incident “a clear case of negligence” saying he would be seeking legal justice.
“We shall be moving further to look at other legal avenues both criminal and civil to redress the family that has lost the young future leader,” said Omari.
Police in Parklands have commenced investigations into the incident.
The late Abdikarim is expected to be buried on Thursday at the Lang’ata cemetery.
