Six years after the death of Kikuyu benga artist Sammy Murimi Nderi alias Murimi wa Kahalf, his family still ponders on what killed their son.
He died on June 4, 2015, at St Francis Hospital in Kasarani where he was receiving treatment.
The Kirinyaga-born singer was known for ‘Ino ni Momo’ hit that he released in 2011. He deeply jibed chubby women.
Before his death, the singer had spent several weeks at the Aga Khan Hospital battling a strange disease that doctors could not diagnose.
His mother Grace Wakanuthu according to Mwago wa Mugikuyu recalls that his son asked to be taken to Meru just before his death.
On June 3, 2015, he was taken to Igembe where they met five ‘healers’ who he claimed to have been seeing in his dreams.
Wakanuthu in a previous interview with the Nairobian said the five ‘healers’ sprinkled honey on him in a ‘move to cast away demons’.
They then slaughtered a sheep and fed him pieces of cooked meat and soup and allowed them to return to his Nairobi home.
However, on their return journey, Wa Kahalf’s health condition worsened and he could not stop screaming.
“His stomach was like an inflated balloon. I have never seen such before. He wanted us to perforate it with a knife. He was screaming in pain but there was nothing we could do,” Kanuthu recounted.
He then threw up and excreted bizarre stuff before being rushed to St Francis Hospital in Kasarani.
In his last moments at the hospital, a cousin said, he asked for water and his stomach deflated when he took it. Murimi died shortly thereafter.
His mother turned her anger on her son’s second wife Nancy Karambu accusing her of bewitching her son claims which she dismissed.
“That is weird. I don’t remember meeting witchdoctors in Meru. I don’t know who poisoned his mind with witchcraft claims but he kept telling friends he was bewitched,” Karambu stated.
Years before his strange illness, Karambu had been accused of trying to poison the singer forcing him to return to his first wife a pastor.
Murimi’s family is still in anguish six years later as they try to unravel what caused their kin’s death.