Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) is once again in the spotlight following the brutal murder of a patient – a murder that came about five months after the macabre killing of Gilbert Kinyua in February.

Edward Maingi Ndegwa is the latest victim in a string of crimes that badly expose security lapses at the largest referral facility. 

That a patient can be killed in broad daylight without anyone noticing is a cause of concern regarding patients’ safety and level of security at KNH, which on any ordinary day, is a beehive of activities. Many questions are being asked as to how a patient in the country’s apex referral hospital and in a general ward could have his throat slit without anyone noticing.

Kinyua’s case had gone cold. But the similarities with Ndegwa’s are eerie. Both had their throats slit and the killing was done in the same ward.

Ndegwa, who was killed on Thursday afternoon, had been at the facility for only six days, and police are now linking Kennedy Kalombolote, another patient, to the murder. 

Soon after the incident, Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) released a statement linking Kalombolote to the murder.

According to DCI, the ward nurse had checked Ndegwa at 11:30am and taken his blood pressure. At 12:30pm, a relative visited and found him stable, leaving the ward at around 1:30pm. But around 2pm, a cleaner noticed blood pooling around his neck. 

“Upon visiting the scene, detectives noticed bloody slipper prints from the victim’s bedside to a nearby toilet and eventually to a side room, where the suspect, Kalombotole, was admitted. In the room, investigators recovered a pair of blue slippers and a blood-stained bedsheet,” said DCI.

The police noted: “Further on the ground, directly to the 7th floor where the window to the deceased’s ward is, detectives recovered a knife wrapped in gloves, which were forwarded to the National Forensic Laboratory for analysis.”  

“Preliminary investigations indicate that Kennedy Kalombotole was admitted to the facility on December 1, 2024, and is the prime suspect in the murder of Gilbert Kinyua Muthoni, 40, who was murdered in Ward 7C during the night of 6th and 7th February, 2025,” added the DCI.

According to Ndegwa’s mother Margaret Muthoni, her 54-year-old son was doing well when a cousin visited him between 1pm and 2pm and they only learnt of his death when her daughter went to visit him during the 4pm visiting hours.

Muthoni, who jetted into the country on Friday from the UK, said when her daughter came in, she found the seventh floor of KNH cordoned off with several police officers.

“He had been admitted for blood pressure but it had stabilised and he was due to be discharged today [Friday],” she told The Saturday Standard.

According to Muthoni, her firstborn son in a family of three was in the process of getting travel documents to the UK where he was to relocate to join his wife and son.

“His family is there (UK), I think they had gotten him a job,” she said, adding that Ndegwa, a father of one, sold phones in Kasarani for a living, and the same time operated a clothes shop at Ngara market.

A heartbroken Muthoni wondered why Kalombotole was allowed to stay at the facility despite being discharged in January.

“He was not a patient. How comes you keep somebody who had even been associated with the murder of another man,” she posed.

She went ahead to question whether Kalombotole had someone powerful protecting him and was using him for contract killings.

She spoke after recording a statement with the Homicide Unit of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) at a police station within KNH. Among those interviewed by the detectives is Ndegwa’s sister.

The family that hails from Mukwerini in Nyeri County now wants justice for their kin.

DCI said Kinyua’s death was probed and the file forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), and after a review, it was returned for further inquiries to reinforce their case against Kalombotole.

While exonerating themselves, KNH shifted blame to DCI, saying that Kalombotole had been at the facility after detectives failed to complete their probe into Kinyua’s death.

“We emphasise that the suspect had been discharged and the hospital did not intend or desire to host him indefinitely. However, in the absence of alternative options and pending direction from investigative agencies, we had no choice but to continue with his stay in the hospital,” said KNH in a statement.

According to the facility, Kalombotole had been admitted in November 2022 and was treated and discharged in June 2024, where he was taken to a home.

In December 2024, he fell ill and was readmitted to the facility and discharged in January 2025.

Kalombotole’s lawyer, Phillip Maiyo, indicated his client was suffering from Chronic Convulsions, Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

“He seems not mentally okay…he does not even remember getting arrested by the police,” said Maiyo.

KNH said that after he was discharged, the home where he was from refused to take him back, and they were forced to house him while looking for alternative accommodation.

The facility, however, failed to inform Kenyans whether Kalombotole was under close supervision.

Maiyo, who is offering his legal services for free, said that the suspect does not have any family, and the hospital waived his bills during the two times he was under treatment.

He claimed that an interview with his client did not yield much about his identity, as he seemed not to know where he came from.

KNH said they made several attempts to get his identity, including taking his fingerprints, but they did not yield any positive results.

Kalombotole was booked late into the night at the Kilimani Police Station, where he is being held. 

He will be held until Monday, when homicide detectives are expected to present him in court.

Maiyo has cautioned that his client should be closely monitored while in police custody, given his condition.