Police Dispel Rumors Surrounding the Death of Kirinyaga IEBC Official

Police have dispelled the rumors surrounding the sudden death of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) official Geoffery Gitobu.

Gitobu, the returning officer for Gichugu Constituency in Kirinyaga County, had traveled to Nanyuki to see his family after supervising last week’s elections.

Reports indicate that the official had visited IEBC offices in Nanyuki on Monday afternoon when he collapsed and was rushed to Cottage Hospital Nanyuki where he was pronounced dead.

Addressing the media on Tuesday, Laikipia County Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Onesmus Towett dismissed rumors of the possible murder of Gitobu, saying it was sudden death.

“Reports that an IEBC official was murdered are not true, the report was of sudden death of somebody who collapsed in town. No case of murder or manslaughter has been reported here,” Towett stated.

Towett pleaded with Kenyans and politicians to stop speculating the cause of Gitobu’s death and wait for the outcome of a postmortem examination scheduled for Wednesday.

“We have opened an inquiry and thereafter we will give a report, a postmortem will be conducted tomorrow to establish the cause of his sudden death. So let the politicians and everyone else stop speculations,” he said.

The 57-year-old official’s body is lying at the Cottage Hospital mortuary.