Kisii mum of 7 shattered after learning firstborn son died year ago: "Simu ilikuwa mteja"

When Agnes Kerubo Maonto phoned her son and his number was not going through, she thought his phone had spoilt It was not the first time she...

• When Agnes Kerubo Maonto phoned her son and his number was not going through, she thought his phone had spoilt
• It was not the first time she had tried to reach him unsuccessfully, as a similar incident had happened before
• Speaking to Best for you.co.ke, the Kisii mum said she was unaware that something more tragic had happened to her firstborn son

A mother from Kisii county is reeling in shock and pain following devastating news concerning her loved one.

Agnes Kerubo Maonto only recently found out that her firstborn son, Alex Mogaka Ongweny, was dead.

The news came as a shock because she thought her son had passed away on Tuesday, September 2, yet the 35-year-old had actually died in the first week of July 2024.

When last did Kerubo talk to her son?

The heartbroken mother of seven shared how she received the puzzling news.

"There was a man who got in touch with someone from Ena Coach who relayed the information to the police. The police contacted our area chief, who then disclosed the news to the clan elder, and eventually I was informed.

Mogaka had been involved in an accident two days after our last conversation on June 30, 2024. He was knocked down along Mombasa Road. He was immediately taken to hospital where he passed away while receiving treatment," she told Best for you.co.ke.

Kerubo recounts not talking to son while in Baringo

When Kerubo initially tried to contact her son and his phone was not going through, she thought his handset had spoilt, just as it had in the past.

She recalled a time when her son had gone to work in Baringo county and his phone was unreachable, only for him later to explain that his phone had been damaged.

"I thought it was the same thing. So after our conversation in June, when his phone was not going through, I assumed maybe his phone had an issue and he would contact me after fixing it.

I was also talking to his friend, who kept telling me my son had been seen in different places many stories. But he himself was not meeting him. Later, he confessed that he had been lying about my son's whereabouts," Kerubo explained.

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Kerubo opens up about her Grade 4 son

As a single mum of seven, Kerubo said when the clan elder broke the news, she asked a nephew who lived in Nairobi to go and confirm it.

The man who had first reached out to the bus company had left his contacts, which helped Kerubo trace the truth about her son.

"They went to the police station where my son's fingerprint report was kept, and he confirmed it was indeed Mogaka, my son, who had died. He is the second son I have lost. In 2018, I lost my lastborn son to stomach cancer. By the time we discovered the condition, it was too late. The doctors said he could not be treated. He was only in Grade 4," the unemployed mum said emotionally.

What is Kerubo's plea to Kenyans?

Kerubo was shattered by the news of her firstborn, who had been helping her educate her other children with the little money he earned.

"All I want is for the body to come home for burial. I do not have the money or the capacity to transport his body because when my lastborn died, I sold most of my possessions to bring back his body and bury him. I barely have anything left now. I am in pain and in need. I just want to bury my son, nothing else," she cried.

Kisii man loses wife year after losing daughter

In another story, a man from Kisii county was thrown into mourning after his wife died in the same month and on the same date his daughter had died.

Ronard Obasi Ndege said his wife’s and daughter’s deaths were a year apart, raising painful questions.

Obasi recounted how both of them passed away as he made an emotional appeal to Kenyans, having been left with young children under his care.