CHELEGET, Kenya — Most walked for several miles on dusty paths to the remote village in southwestern Kenya, others arrived in bicycle taxis, the privileged in cars and even helicopters.
Thousands of Kenyans on Saturday flooded Cheleget village in the Rift Valley to give a hero’s burial to police Cpl. Benard Kipkemoi Tonui, who died fighting to end the Islamic extremist attack on Garissa University College which killed 148 people April 2.
Tonui was part of the police department’s Recce Company, a special unit trained in counterterrorism, hostage situations and close-quarters combat, which stopped the attack on the college in eastern Kenya in less than 30 minutes. This was after the army and regular police had tried for more than 12 hours to stop the four gunmen from Somalia’s al-Shabab from killing students.
Burial for victims of the attack started Friday after the government released the bodies to their families.
Simon Sanga, Tonui’s father, told the crowd he cried and asked God, “Why me?” when he received news of his son’s death.
“It is not even two years since I buried another son, a police officer, also killed (in) an al-Shabab attack in Garissa,” Sanga said.
The success of Recce Company has given a much- needed boost to the image of the Kenya police, which many deride as ineffective and corrupt. The nation’s police cope with poor pay and difficult working conditions. Transparency International has ranked the police as Kenya’s most corrupt institution.
