This archive report was first published on 6 January 2022.
January 6, 2022, marked six years since Emilly Chelangat, a student at Our Lady of Mercy South B School in Nairobi, died from meningitis. Her mother, Sally Chepngetich Bett, is still seeking justice for her daughter's untimely death.
According to Sally, the school's administrators failed to provide her daughter with proper medical care, which could have saved her life. 'My daughter would be alive today if the administrators of the school cared to seek better medical care for her,' Sally said, her voice filled with anguish.
Despite the interventions of the Parliamentary Education Committee and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), Sally's quest for justice has been met with resistance. The parliamentary committee had directed the KNCHR to investigate the matter and take legal action, but six years on, Sally claims that she has been denied justice by the commission's head of the legal unit, Mr. Victor Kamau.
Mr. Kamau allegedly told Sally that she should have had an out-of-court agreement with the school, which Sally denies. She has visited the commission's offices numerous times, but to no avail.
Emilly was taken to a hospital in Namanga, but her condition worsened, and she was moved to Nairobi West Hospital in a semi-coma. She was diagnosed with meningitis and spent five weeks in the ICU, where she lost her sight and suffered partial paralysis.
Doctors said that had she been brought earlier, the disease would have been detected and treated. After eight months of home care, Emilly died on March 4, 2016. Sally and her husband informed the school, but they have since denied them access to Emilly's school belongings.
