News Mania Desk/Piyal Chatterjee/6th September 2024
Cheptegei had multi-organ failure late Wednesday, according to a medical official at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital where she was receiving treatment, as reported by CNN affiliate Citizen TV on Thursday.
Cheptegei is “a good child,” according to her mother Agnes, who spoke with reporters outside the hospital on Thursday.
Cheptegei’s death was deemed “tragic” by Uganda’s state minister for sports, Peter Ogwang, who also stated on X Thursday that “Kenyan authorities are investigating the circumstances under which she died and a more detailed report and program will be provided in due course.”
Her father, Joseph, blamed the Kenyan government and police for failing to prevent her death.
“I blame her death on negligence by the government because the authorities should have taken it seriously when we first reported that this man [Ndiema] had become problematic and he was fighting her. We reported to the police, to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations but they didn’t take any action to save her life,” he told journalist
Sports minister Murkomen said the latest tragedy involving Cheptegei “is a stark reminder that we must do more to combat gender-based violence in our society, which in recent years has reared its ugly head in elite sporting circles.”
