Post-Mortem links circulatory failure to Moi Primary student's death
Parents from Moi Comprehensive School protest after the death of the death of a grade eight pupil Moses Joseph Onyoni on 23 February 2026
Moses Joseph Onyoni, the Grade 8 student from Moi Comprehensive School died due to circulatory failure. This was confirmed by government pathologist Titus Ngulungu after carrying out the postmortem at the Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital.
“Internal examinations revealed that there was a circulatory failure, which means the blood was not flowing well enough through the body, so organs did not get enough oxygen and shuts down,” he explains.
Dr Ngulungu further reveals that the body only had a minor trauma on the forehead, but this could not have caused the death.
“We did a thorough examination of the body and there was no trauma, however on the forehead there was a minor trauma and that could not have been the cause of the death of the minor,” he reiterates.
He says that they have taken samples from the body for a toxicology profile.
The death of the grade 8 student caused an uproar among various stakeholders who stormed the school demanding answers from the teachers as to what happened to the child.
According to his mother, Lillian Moraa, her son had woken up in good health and showed no signs of illness before leaving for school. She recounts that the morning routine was normal, as she prepared him for school and saw him off to board the school bus.
“We had breakfast together, and my son was in good health. He never complained of any illness. After breakfast, we parted ways as he was picked up by the school bus. But hours later, I received a call informing me that he had fallen sick. I did not know that my son was already dead,” Moraa says.
At around 8am, she received a call from a member of the school administration asking her to rush to the school, as her son was reportedly unwell.
She says the caller informed her that the boy had become unconscious and had been taken to the hospital. However, upon arrival, she was told that her son had already passed away.
“My world was shattered,” she recalls.
Preliminary information relayed to the family by some teachers and administrators indicates that the boy had been joking with classmates moments before the incident.
When a teacher reportedly called students to the front for disciplinary action, Onyoni is said to have stood near a wall before suddenly collapsing and losing consciousness.
At the Nakuru Teaching and Referral Hospital, Medical Superintendent Dr James Waweru confirmed that the learner was brought to the facility at around 9am while already deceased. He states that medics were informed the boy had collapsed in class.
Dr. Waweru explained that before the body could be admitted to the mortuary, the hospital management requested a police report, as the matter was deemed a police case.
“We did not refuse to take in the body as he was already dead. That is why the casualty team demanded an OB number. According to the school management, the boy did not show any form of illness before he collapsed” he says.
Meanwhile, in the tension, angry parents removed the body from the hospital and marched back to the school compound, leading to a standoff that paralysed learning for the better part of Monday morning.
Parents accuse the school management of failing to provide a clear and consistent account of what had transpired, with some alleging they had received conflicting reports. Police officers were later deployed to the institution to contain the situation and prevent further escalation as investigations into the tragic incident continue.