Farm manager recalls Mark Too's last moments

Moses Kiprotich Too (from 2nd left) Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi with relatives and family friends carry the casket at the Lee Funeral Home, Nairobi. (Photo: Elvis Ogina /Standard)

The late Mark Too was a go-getter who mingled freely with anyone who came across him regardless of their standing in society.

It was an attribute his workers at the vast Maziwa Farm in Uasin Gishu County say they will miss about him.

"Too would occasionally wake up early in the morning if he had personal duties to attend to outside his farm but in most cases, he would have breakfast between 8 and 8.30 am before talking to visitors who thronged his home each morning," they said.

"There would be around 50 visitors every morning who came to see mheshimiwa for various reasons. They are normally welcomed to a shade in the homestead where they have breakfast before seeing him," said Mr Nathaniel Kiptoo, one of the farm managers.

Kiptoo said that on December 31, last year, he brought newspapers for mheshimiwa at around 7.30am, before proceeding to his rural home in Nandi after instructing workers to prepare for the day's work.

The manager told The Standard that at around 9.45am, he called one of the workers to inquire if Too was up and he was informed that he had woken up, opened a window, and used his keys to unlock his vehicle to facilitate washing.

"He told the farm worker to keep some documents in the car on a back seat after washing it. He was on phone and in a jovial mood as he retreated to his room at his farm house at Maziwa farm in Kapseret constituency," said Kiptoo.

But he recalls that by noon, he again called but was told mheshimiwa had not come out of the house, which Kiptoo said was unusual.

"I informed Sophie, Too's wife who was away, asking her if she had talked to mheshimiwa on that day and she said they had talked earlier. The workers knocked on the door but there was no response, which was quite unusual," he added.

Kiptoo said upon looking through the window, they saw keys to his room by the window and when workers accessed his room, they found him unconscious in the bathroom.

He said he was rushed to St Luke's Orthopedic Hospital where he was confirmed dead 15 minutes later.