Rodgers Kipruto family puts up paybill to raise Sh4m to fly his body from Finland

Kipruto Rodgers

A past photograph of the late Rodgers Kipruto, 28, a nursing student at Laurea University, FInland from Uasin Gishu county who died by suicide last week allegedly out of frustration. Rodgers was among the 202 students from Uasin Gishu county who were flown to Finland on a controversial study programme. He left Kenya for the foreign country on October 30, 2022.

Photo credit: File I Nation Media Group

The family of Rodgers Kipruto, who died in Finland while pursuing a nursing course, has now been forced to put up a Paybill number to raise Sh4 million to fly his body back home for burial.

According to the family, there is limited time to raise the amount  with the clock ticking towards the lapse of 21-day notice given by Finnish authority before the body is declared unclaimed and buried by the authorities in the foreign nation. 

“We have received pledges even from the Uasin Gishu County government to support us but we are yet to see the commitment. We have resorted to hold the fundraiser on Friday (today) at  Chirchir farm in Kesses, Uasin Gishu County, besides putting up Rodgers sendoff appeal MPESA Paybill account 8050779 with the Account Name being the well-wisher’s name,” Mr Jonathan Kosgei, the deceased’s father, told Nation.

He said he was relying on the goodwill of all Kenyans to help him ferry back the body of his son. He is reported to have died by suicide in Finland out of frustration.

“Ferrying the body will take up to Sh3 million and as a family, we had exhausted all the resources to send him to study in Finland. Now that he will be brought as cargo, the bill is huge,” he told Nation early this week.

Kipruto was among 202 students from Uasin Gishu County who went to Finland on a study programme deal between the county government of Uasin Gishu and three universities that was later hit by controversy.

The students joined Laurea, Jyvaskylla, and Tampere universities in Finland after parents deposited money into an account run by the county, but months later, the institutions demanded payment of fees or the students would be deported.

A county assembly committee that investigated the scam recommended investigations into the management of the overseas education account for forgery, abuse of office and lack of integrity.

Kipruto had been depressed and physically unwell since last October and complained about hardship in Finland after leaving Kenya on October 30, 2022. He was a student at Laurea University, studying for a degree in nursing after quitting his job as a nurse at a Nakuru Level Five Hospital.

Mr Kosgey said the Kenyan embassy in Finland has already reached out to the family and is aiding in addressing logistical issues to ensure the body is brought on time.

Revelations of Kenyan students depressed in Finland after being shortchanged in the controversial study programme hatched by the Uasin Gishu government have come to the fore following the death by suicide of one of them last week.