A cloud of grief has enveloped Takaye village in Malindi Sub County of Kilifi County after a seven-year-old boy was electrocuted and died. Villagers told reporters that the grade one pupil at a local private school was playing with friends around a kiosk and touched live electric wires that had been left unattended. The boy’s father, Mr. Francis Mwaro Mangi, said his son, Vincent Mwaro, had returned home for lunch and was playing with friends around the kiosk made of iron sheets when he accidentally touched open electricity wires and died on the spot. “My son came home for lunch after which he went out to play around a building whose electrical wiring had not been done well and accidentally touched one of the wires and died on the spot,” he told journalists at the Malindi Sub County Hospital Mortuary. Mr. Mwaro called for thorough investigations into how the owner of the kiosk was allowed to connect electricity wires without following safety regulations, adding that most buildings in the area were improperly wired.
When journalists arrived at the scene just behind Takaye Primary School, police officers were just leaving with the body. Angry residents later vandalized the kiosk and looted most of the goods inside as the owner had run away to escape their wrath. They vowed never to allow him to operate any business in the area again even as they called for his prosecution. Politician Wanje Baya urged the Kenya Power Company to investigate allegations of illegal power installations in the area and bring to book those culpable. Malindi Sub County Police Commander John Kemboi confirmed the incident and said investigations had been launched, adding that those found to have broken the law would be arrested and prosecuted.