Slain KBC journalist Betty Barasa buried in Ngong

Slain KBC senior video editor Betty Barasa was on Wednesday afternoon laid to rest in a private burial at her home in Ololua Ngong, Kajiado County.

On Wednesday morning the family, friends and media colleagues attended a mass at Montezuma Monalisa funeral home chapel.

Barasa was eulogized as a caring and loving mother, wife, friend and colleague.

Widower Geoffrey Namasanja eulogized his wife as the bond that glued their family.

The funeral mass of slain KBC journalist Betty Barasa (inset) at the Montezuma funeral home in Nairobi on April 14, 2021. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

“I met Betty in April of 2004 and we wedded in April 2014, ten years later. The killers took her life in April. The month of April means a lot to me, she is my wife and my pillar,” he said.

Emotions ran high as friends and family of the late scribe viewed her body with the majority eulogizing the veteran journalist as a hardworking and dedicated colleague.

The 41-year old part-time lecturer at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication was shot dead on April 7 at her newly built home in Ololua. Her husband and children were held hostage by some of the gunmen downstairs. 

According to a witness, Barasa arrived home at around 8.20pm before she was accosted by three armed men who took her to her bedroom before shooting her dead.

She joined KBC in 2004 as an intern and rose to become a Senior Video Editor in the newsroom.

Attendants at the funeral mass of KBC journalist Betty Barasa at the Montezuma funeral home in Nairobi on April 14, 2021. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

Call for speedy investigations

The mass was also attended by leaders from western Kenya, among them Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula and newly elected Kabuchai MP Majimbo Kalasinga, who called for speedy investigations.

“If the truth can’t come out at the time we expect, in consultation with my senator, we shall ask this on the floor of the House. They should tell us what happened,” Kalasinga said.

Namasanja works at the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) as the head of Finance. NMK managing director Dr Mzalendo Kibunjia urged the government to use its network to bring the culprits to book·

Seven days after the incident, detectives have not arrested anyone though investigations are in high gear.

Sources privy to the investigations told The Standard that sleuths are analyzing Barasa’s phone to trace her last moments as well as establish any leads.