This archive report was first published on 31 July 2019.
On July 26, 2019, a group of 63 pupils and their teachers from Junior Academy in Butere embarked on a trip to Eldoret. Among them was Joan Okutoyi Olumasai, a 42-year-old teacher and deputy head of the school. The trip was meant to be a typical day out, but it turned into a nightmare for Olumasai's family.
According to the school management, everything was going smoothly until they reached Eldoret at around 10am. However, when Olumasai failed to return with the rest of the group, an alarm was raised at 5pm. The school claimed that efforts to search for her were futile, and the team had to leave Eldoret without her.
Olumasai's family, however, suspected that something bad had happened to her. Her mother, Philister Okutoyi, said she had inquired about her daughter's whereabouts from a colleague and neighbor but did not get a clear answer. The family tried to reach Olumasai but found her phone with a fellow teacher, which led them to believe that she was in trouble.
On Saturday morning, Olumasai's husband, Francis Akhonya, went to the police station in Eldoret and was informed that a woman's body had been brought to St Luke's mortuary. The police revealed that Olumasai's body was discovered on Friday night inside a toilet at the animal park where the group had visited. The body had no visible injuries, but the circumstances of her movement from the gate to the toilet remain unclear.
The family is now demanding answers from the school, questioning why the management did not raise an alarm when Olumasai failed to return. The school head teacher, David Khalelwa, defended the school's actions, stating that they could not report a missing person hours after she went missing due to the law's requirements.
Olumasai's death is the second incident of a deputy head teacher dying in a span of a year, following another teacher's death in a road accident in July 2018.
