A middle-aged man succumbed to his injuries on arrival at Kisii Teaching and Referral hospital on Monday after falling from the fourth floor of a storey building in Nyanchwa estate.
Winfred Ochanda, who worked with Nyamiranga contractors as a casual laborer, is said to have fallen from the building under unclear circumstances.
According to witnesses, the deceased had complained of a fever and was subsequently denied a break due to his illness.
“He was not of robust health. He kept on complaining of fatigue and headache and asked for permission to be excused for only today but was denied by the employer due to what he called “limited” timelime,” said Ken Otieno, a fellow constructor.
“To be honest, it is not clear how the accident took place because we just heard a loud thud only to realise he had fallen down. He was in a critical condition and we rushed him to the hospital before he passed on,” he added.
Contractor John Ongaga dismissed the claim but admitted that the deceased was not in his normal mood on the day of accident.
“I never denied him a leave to have a rest. I think he must have given distorted information about the issue. He had asked excusal on Tuesday to attend an ‘important’ matter that he never disclosed,” Ongaga said.
Kisii Level Six head of emergency and operations Dr Kelvis Onyango said they will carry out a postmortem to ascertain the truth behind the death.