School on the spot after KCSE candidate commits suicide

A secondary school in Mombasa is on the spot following the death of its student who was sitting the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam.

Abner Mwanda of Allidina Visram High School committed suicide at the institution on Friday after he finished his last test.

Before he sat his Physics Practical exam, Abner had been caught with bhang.

The school’s administration immediately summoned his mother, Jane Mwenda, to settle the discipline case.

CONTRADICTING REPORTS

Following the case, contradicting reports have since emerged from the administration and the student’s family over the incident.

In an interview with the Nation at their Kiembeni home, Ms Mwenda said before she went to school, she had talked to the principal and her son by phone.

“I first talked with the principal who told me that my son has been caught with bhang and he was being held by the police at the school. But when I got there I did not see my son as I was kept in an office waiting to hear the case” said Ms Mwenda.

NOT ARRESTED

But speaking Sunday, the school’s chairman of the board of management Mikdadi Hemed said the student had not been arrested by police and further refuted Ms Mwenda’s version of the story.

Asked why the matter was not reported to the police and if the school was protecting its image, Mr Mikdadi said, “We did not inform the police because they were concentrating on manning the examination and we did not want to interfere with them.”

However, it emerged that even after the exams were over, the school did not bother to inform the police about the bhang seizure.

POLICE NOT INFORMED

Mombasa Urban OCPD Eliud Monari said the school’s administration did not inform police officers about the incident.

“Police came to know of the seizure after the suicide incident came to our knowledge. If there was bhang that had been seized, the police should have been informed because it was a criminal offence,” said Mr Monari.

At the same time, it has emerged that after being arrested with the bhang, Abner was asked to write a letter apologising to the principal over the matter.

In the letter seen by Nation, Abner mentioned the name of a student who had allegedly sent him to bring the drug to school.

“He asked me about a week ago to bring him some bhang from home. This was because he wanted to use [it] after the exam has ended. I was to bring to him and then he would pay me later,” reads the letter.

DISCIPLINARY ACTION

He said he bought the bhang from Bamburi with the school revealing that a man identified as Nati was the one who sold the drug to the student.

The Nation learnt that the student who Abner mentioned was also facing a disciplinary case after he was caught with some items not allowed in school.

“I heard that there were other students who were facing disciplinary cases but it is only my son who was detained at the school. Why was that so? And if my son was facing a case why was he allowed to roam in the school before I had arrived?” asked the Ms Mwenda, accusing the administration of neglect.

The board confirmed that the student had been left to wait for his mother inside the school.

Police boss Monari said investigations were on to reveal the core reason that led to the student hanging himself.

“A post-mortem will reveal the cause of the death because how the case was handled raises questions,” said Mr Monari.