NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 23 – A family of a 20-year-old Kenyan engineering student at Russia’s St Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI” is appealing for support to repatriate the remains of the student who died on Monday while undergoing treatment.
Abraham Mutinda Mwendwa, an alumina of Alliance Boys High School (2017), was enrolled at the institution through government sponsorship. He passed away after spending two weeks in hospital.
His father Ambrose Mwendwa who lost his job in March after the hotel he worked for declared redundancies says the family is unable to foot the repatriation bill estimated at about Sh1.2 million.
“We are therefore kindly and humbly requesting the Government through the Ministry of foreign Affairs to assist in preparation and repatriation so that my son’s body can be brought to Kenya for decent burial,” he told Capital FM on Tuesday.
“The request of the same is already in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate of Diaspora office here in Nairobi,” he added.
Mwendwa who reached out to the Kenyan embassy in Moscow says the mission could not provide further support.
Maurice Okoth who heads the Mission in Moscow advised Mwendwa to contact the agent who processed his son’s admission to university to guide him on insurance arrangements.
“It’s unfortunate but Kindly note that preparation and repatriation of the body is the responsibility of the family,” Okoth wrote in response to Mwendwa’s request.
The deceased was 18th national in the 2013 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and was among the top students in the 2017 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education.
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