Leaders mourn slain TUM student leader ‘Beast’

Senior National and County government officials converged at the Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) on Wednesday to pay their last respects to a former student leader fondly known as “Beast”, whose death has plunged the campus community into mourning barely a year after he lost his father.

Principal Secretary (PS) for Internal Security and National Administration, Dr. Raymond Omollo, led the tributes, describing the late leader as a symbol of the inclusive nation that the country is heading to.

Dr Omollo said that although ‘Beast’ hailed from Kisumu County, he found a home in Mombasa, where he continued supporting government transformation programmes, particularly in education.

The PS linked the late leader’s story to the government’s expanded investment in higher education funding, noting that the sector’s budget had grown from Sh500 billion to nearly Sh800 billion in three years, alongside a pending parliamentary Bill seeking to guarantee university placement regardless of a family’s ability to pay.

“Education is the greatest equaliser that you can ever have,” he said, adding that resistance to reforms was often born of discomfort with change rather than genuine grievance.

 Mombasa Governor, Abdulswamad Sharif Nassir, said his engagements with the late student leader had centred on identifying and compensating victims of political and election-related violence, part of a broader healing agenda drawn from the ODM-UDA political pact.

“No country has ever been able to be built by scratching on a wound. No country has ever been able to be built by division,” Nassir said, urging the youth to embrace unity across tribal, religious and generational lines.

He pledged that the county government would provide transport to enable students from TUM and other institutions to attend the burial and said he would engage the relevant Principal Secretaries, to extend the support to other universities.

PS for Youth Affairs and the Creative Economy, Fikirini Jacobs, conveyed condolences on behalf of President Ruto, describing the late leader as a self-driven young man who transitioned from campus politics to establish his own outfit, Visionary Alliance for Ruto, through which he mobilised young people to register as voters in Mombasa.

He revealed that the President had personally condoled with the family that morning and sent his most heartfelt condolences through him.

The PS called on the TUM fraternity and the wider youth community to carry forward the late leader’s dedication to civic participation and national cohesion as the university and county prepare for his burial.

“Let me convey my deepest sympathies on behalf of His Excellency the President for losing such a vibrant young man,” Jacobs said.

By Ramadhan Nassib