A treasurer of a table banking group, otherwise locally known as Chama, died of an apparent suicide after members of her group demanded Sh300,000 in savings.
60-year-old Elizabeth Mumbua died Monday, December 19 shortly after she was admitted at Kangundo Sub-County Hospital in Machakos County.
Mumbua’s troubles started last week Tuesday when her Chama met to reconcile its accounts and share Sh300,000 that they had raised throughout the year.
Mumbua said she would avail the funds the following day but in the morning, she fled without notice.
“After the group reconciled its books on Tuesday she had promised to avail the money on Wednesday. However, she fled on Wednesday morning without indicating her destination. We remained in the dark. We assumed she had gone to borrow money,” said the woman’s husband, Joseph Muya as quoted by the nation.
It was not until Sunday morning that they traced Mumbua to an abandoned house in their homestead.
“Three days later, on Sunday morning, we were shocked to find her handbag next to the cowshed. Her footprints led us to an abandoned house at the corner of the homestead where she lay unconscious. We also recovered two bottles of acaricide(pesticides used to kill ticks and mites). We raised an alarm and rushed her for medication,” Muya said.
A doctor who attended to the mother of two said she had ingested a lot of pesticide.
Confirming the incident, Kangundo Sub-county Police Commander Zacharia Bitok told the nation: “She was fighting for her life in hospital after taking poison. But we have since lost her.”
Mumbua’s husband is among those who recorded statements on Sunday as police opened a probe.
The woman’s body was moved to Kangundo Sub-County Hospital mortuary awaiting an autopsy.
