A soldier and his two sons who drowned inside a military barrack were on Friday buried at their rural home in Keigoi, Igembe South.

Sergeant James Meme, 40, and his sons Joseph Kithinji, 11, and Vincent Muchui ,7,  drowned in a flooded quarry inside the Kenya Defence Forces’s Thika Garrison, about 100 metres from the staff quarters.

Murithi, the family’s last born, said he watched as his brothers dived into the flooded quarry.

According to him, Muchui(7) is said to have jumped into the quarry first. When he took too long to resurface, his brother Kithinji got worried and jumped in to rescue him. Murithi then ran back to the house to inform his father about the incident. He found his father sleeping.

Sgt Meme, is said to have picked a used tyre, which he intended to use as a floater, and jumped into the quarry only to drown alongside his two sons.

The children’s mother, Eunice, 37, who was away at a clinic in Thika, is said to have attempted suicide after the body of her husband and two sons were retrieved.

Meme's family members and his colleagues in the military eulogized Sgt (pst) Meme as a staunch Christian who believed in modesty, honesty and loved peace.

“He believed in modesty, integrity, honesty and humility. Meme always worked on uniting people, be it at work or in the family,” said Meme’s youngest brother Moses Karani.

Karani added that his brother was a pillar in the extended family and was mostly concerned with their welfare. 

“He loved his parents such that any time he heard they were sick he could rush home and pick them for treatment and take care of them at his residence in Thika barracks. He earned respect from his seniors at work, his peers, his juniors and friends,” Karani added.

During the burial, political leaders called for the national government to compensate the family.

The leaders said the deaths were caused by negligence by the military for failing to fence and restrict access to the quarry.

In attendance were Igembe South MP John Paul Mwirigi, Kubai Kiringo (Igembe Central), EALA MP Mpuru Aburi, Meru assembly speaker Kaberia Arimba and several MCAs.

Kiringo said the leaders will follow up to have the Government compensate the family fully.

“If there was someone who fenced the quarry we could not have lost such a number of family members. It is a blow to the family but a challenge to the government. We need total compensation to the family,” MP Kiringo said.

“No amount of compensation can bring back the life lost but we want the government to be responsible."

Police said bodies of the three were recovered at 11pm after an eight-hour operation by the Disaster Response Unit from KDF.