Kariobangi North Member of County Assembly Joel Munuve died of two blood clots in his body, autopsy results have revealed.
The clots, one in the lungs and another on the left limb were said to have led to an insufficient supply of oxygen to other parts of the body.
The exercise to
ascertain the cause of his death was led by government chief pathologist Johansen Oduor and six others nominated by the interested parties at the Lee Funeral Home, Nairobi.
And after more than five-hour postmortem exercises, all the pathologists unanimously concluded that owing to the clots Munuve passed on.
“When we looked at the body of the late MCA, from external examination we saw that he had cyanosis (darkening of lips and fingernails). This is seen in people who are not getting enough oxygen in the body,” explained Oduor
The pathologist
said the team then proceeded to open up the body to determine why oxygen levels were low. The main findings, he noted, were found in the lungs.
“There is a blood vessel called pulmonary artery where blood passes from the heart to the lungs to get oxygen. We saw a big blood clot there which was tightly adherent to the blood vessel. This is what is called pulmonary embolism which can cause sudden death,” he stated.
Dr Oduor said further examination was done to trace the origin of the blood clot.
“We tried to find where the blood clot was coming from and upon looking at the whole body, a blood vessel in the lower limb also on the left in the vein called popliteal vein, we saw a blood clot there,” he said.
Lawyer Danstan Omari who was representing the family said while the findings had brought closure to speculation, some samples consisting of fluids and swaps were collected for further tests by the government chemist.
“Some samples in the form of the stomach liquids and some organ parts were taken for further analysis. We will be waiting for the outcome so that the family will give the final results,”
Kileleshwa MCA Robert
Alai noted that the outcome of the autopsy will restore the peace mostly to the political class that has been questioning what or who might have killed the MCA.
“We trust the process led by the government chief pathologist to ensure that nothing is left to chance but this is a big lesson to us that our friend had something that was hurting him slowly but he was not aware,” he said.
Munuve, who was a vocal Member of the Nairobi County Assembly died on Tuesday after a short illness leading to a lot of speculation among his colleagues and electorate.
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By Pkemoi Ng’enoh