NAKURU — For nine months, Agnes Chelang’at prepared for the joy of motherhood. She had picked out clothes, painted a room, and trusted her life to the hands of those who swore an oath to God and medicine. She walked into Sisto Mazzoldi Hospital in Rongai on her own two feet, vibrant and expectant. She left in a hearse, her medical file riddled with alterations that tell a story not of a medical accident, but of a cover-up.

Agnes is not an anomaly. She is a statistic in what insiders are calling a "factory of negligence" hidden behind the cross. An investigation by Streamline News, corroborated by terrified whistleblowers and weeping families, reveals a rot that runs deep within this Catholic mission facility—from the surgical theatre to the finance office.

The Midnight Betrayal

The nightmare for Agnes’s family began with a phone call that didn't come. "At 4 p.m., she was fine. By 6:45 p.m., a nurse called me asking if I remembered the woman who had come in. She told me she was dead," recalls Wycliffe Nyachuba, a former nursing officer at the facility who has since gone into hiding. "It was clinical, cold, and suspicious."

While Agnes’s baby survived, her death on the operating table set off a frantic chain of events. Sources confirm that hospital administrators allegedly moved to sanitize the scene before the family could arrive. "They told the husband to go home and rest, that his wife was sleeping," says a family member who requested anonymity. "By the time he returned, the narrative had changed three times."

This pattern mirrors the tragic case of Jackline Chebet Ng’etich, another mother who died at the same facility under similarly opaque circumstances. Her family was initially told only her baby had died. Hours later, they learned Jackline was gone too. "Why lie?" her mother-in-law asks, her voice trembling with a grief that has yet to find closure. "Why hide the body?"

A License to Bill

But why would a mission hospital, founded to serve the poor, engage in such malpractice? The answer, according to documents obtained by Streamline News, appears to be money. The transition from NHIF to the new Social Health Authority (SHA) has opened new avenues for graft, and Sisto Mazzoldi is allegedly at the center of a scheme to defraud the taxpayer.

• Ghost Surgeries: Files show patients billed for procedures that never happened.
• Upcoding: Simple ailments recorded as complex emergencies to claim higher payouts from SHA.
• Falsified Vitals: Data manipulated to justify prolonged admissions.

"If you look at the law, it is criminal to falsify data," warns Defense Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, commenting on the broader sector rot. Yet, at Sisto Mazzoldi, it appears to be standard operating procedure. A simple C-section, which should cost the insurer a standard rate, is often ballooned into a complex, high-cost emergency through creative paperwork.

The Silencing of Dissent

Those who try to speak up face a terrifying choice: silence or death. Amos Kiprop, a radiographer turned whistleblower, describes a culture of fear orchestrated by the hospital’s top administration. "You don't ask questions. You do as you are told, or you find yourself without a job—or worse," he says.

The "worse" is not hypothetical. In August 2025, Victor, a dedicated staff member who had reportedly raised concerns about safety protocols, was found dead in his house after a night shift. The official cause was suffocation, but colleagues aren't buying it. "Victor was healthy. He was vocal. And then he was dead," says a colleague. "That is not a coincidence."

Sister Sophia Redempta, the administrator named in multiple complaints regarding staff intimidation and file alteration, did not respond to our requests for comment. When pressed, the Nakuru County government acknowledged an audit was underway but refused to release the findings.

The Cost of Faith

For the residents of Rongai, the betrayal is spiritual as much as it is medical. Mission hospitals in Kenya have long been the last line of defense for the vulnerable—a place where care comes before cash. Sisto Mazzoldi has inverted this promise.

"We go there because we trust the church," says a local elder. "We think, 'These are nuns, they cannot harm us.' But we are walking into a trap."

As the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) begins to circle, the families of Agnes, Jackline, and Victor are left with empty chairs and unanswered questions. They don't want compensation; they want justice. They want the "divine evil" to end.

"They can hide the files, but they cannot hide the ghosts," Wycliffe says, looking over his shoulder. "The truth is bleeding out, just like those mothers did."