Embu: University student commits suicide over exam fees
By Brian Malia and Collins Osanya
Police in Embu are still piecing together circumstances that made a third-year student of Education, Chemistry, and Mathematics at the University of Embu kill himself.
Sources close to People Daily revealed that Brian Mwenda,21, reportedly took his own life in the evening of Tuesday, 14 April over a Ksh 89,000 examination fee he was supposed to pay before re-sitting 10 past exams he flunked in.
Speaking in confidence, the friends of the deceased said Brian performed dismally in ten units with each unit costing Sh 8,900 for a resit and that they consoled Brian after he disclosed his predicament to them telling him all would be well.
''The fee to re-do a unit was Sh 3,000 but it was hiked to Sh 8,900. Brian had failed in ten units and raising all that money must have been difficult for him,'' a schoolmate of Brian revealed.
Cyrus Njue the owner of the house where the student committed suicide said that he was called in the afternoon by students who are also his tenants asking him to rush to the plot since there was an emergency.
Once at his plot, Njue was directed to Brian's house where he encountered a lifeless body hanging from the from roof.
Njue informed the area assistant chief who called the police and together the local authorities visited the scene.
According to the landlord, the deceased did not appear troubled or bothered and was always in a cheerful mood. Njue also revealed that Brian approached his family and requested to remit his rent at a later date as he couldn't do so at the required time owing to some financial problems he was facing at the time.
Confirming the incident, Embu county police commander Daniel Rukunga said a probe was launched to get to the core of what truly transpired.
University of Embu Deputy Chancellor in charge of Academics Research and Extension Prof. Kiplagat Kotut said the university received the report of the death of the student but the matter was a police case since it occurred outside the school premises.
