Bungoma County was thrown into mourning early on Sunday following the passing on of fast-rising Bukusu comedian John Masinde, alias John Gift.
Gift was rapidly growing as a vernacular comedian, recording jokes in his native Bukusu language and sharing them on social media. He was a celebrity in a Facebook Group Called Bungoma Digest, the ex-official Communication Chanel for Bungoma County.
But news broke early on Sunday that the comedian had died in the ICU of a Private Hospital Called Lifecare in the outskirts of Bungoma town. There has been little information about the cause of his death.
This has given room for many conspiracy theories on social media with some people saying the talented artist might have been killed by rivals who saw him as a threat. Still, there is nothing to back this up.
But there is another theory that is spreading like a wildfire in Bungoma. There are claims that the comedian could have been raped before being killed. To back up this claim, his family says that Gift was bleeding profusely from his behinds, more than 24 hours after being pronounced dead.
It is believed that Gift was taken to the hospital by a politician called Jim Nduruchi. Nduruchi vied for Bungoma gubernatorial elections as an independent in the 2017 elections. He is also the founder and director of Rise Up Society (RUS), an organization that specializes in eradication of jiggers.
According to unverified reports on social media, Nduruchi was sponsoring John Gift to produce his comedy videos and they had met on Saturday to discuss work-related matters.
So how did John end up in hospital dead and bleeding from his behinds? The family is also asking why Mr. Nduruchi took the comedian’s phone immediately after his demise and returned it a day later? Was he deleting evidence of their conversations? Clearly, Mr. Nduruchi has a case to answer in relation to this death.
A Bungoma resident identified as Caleb Kundu accused Mr. Nduruchi of allegedly raping a male student in the early 2000s. According to Caleb, Mr. Nduruchi, who was a teacher at Khasoko High School was interdicted by TSC for this crime. We could not substantiate these allegations by the time we went to press.
The question most people are asking is if John Gift was raped before killed. There is definitely some foul play in the whole story which needs to be investigated.
Meanwhile, Lifecare Hospital has bowed to pressure and waived all hospital bills accumulated by John Gift. There was public uproar after the hospital revealed that the deceased had accrued more that sh118,000 in less than six hours at the facility.
Until his untimely demise, the deceased was a 4th year Education Science Student at the University of Eldoret.