Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has condoled with the family of his chief of staff, who succumbed to Covid-19 on Thursday.
Robert Sumbi passed away on Thursday morning at the Life care Hospital in Bungoma where he had been transferred by the Kakamega County General Hospital after his condition deteriorated on Wednesday evening.
He is one of the county officials who had contracted the virus in recent days.
“Sumbi was a dedicated, hardworking, diligent, honest, humble down to earth and a valuable officer,” Oparanya said.
In a statement on Thursday, Oparanya said his death is a big loss to the county government.
“We have lost a focused staffer whose contribution to the county will be missed. I have lost a close friend and ally whose advise and support has helped me in making key decisions,” he said.
Sumbi was to undergo dialysis since he suffered kidney failure and could not be attended to at the general hospital, being Covid-19 positive.
“We had to move him to Bungoma where they would do both ICU and dialysis because our ICU here has other patients and moving him there could endanger patients with other ailments,” a doctor at the general hospital told the Star.
Sumbi served as county executive for environment and water between 2013 and 2017.
He was named chief of staff after Oparanya’s reelection in 2017.
Kakamega had 316 cases out of which 57 were heath workers by Wednesday.