NAIROBI, Kenya – Gospel musician Shiro wa GP has opened up about the heartbreaking final days of her best friend and colleague, the late Betty Bayo, revealing the silent torment she endured from relentless social media bullying—even as she battled for her life.
Bayo, a respected gospel star who graced the industry for more than 10 years with her warm presence and loyal fan base, had been fighting blood cancer for at least three weeks before taking her final breath at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
But according to Shiro, the pain of the illness was not the only weight she carried in her final days. The bruises left by online cruelty, she said, cut just as deep.
“She used to wonder, what do they want with me?” Shiro recalled, her voice breaking as she relived their conversations.
“Bayo was traumatised by constant bullying on social media, and even on her hospital bed, she begged that her illness remain a secret because she feared she would be mocked even at her lowest,” she added.
In an emotional tribute, Shiro lays bare the wounds left behind—both for Bayo and for those who loved her most.
“My heart is wounded… food has become tasteless. I do not know how to resume my normal daily schedules,” she wrote. “I never thought that one day you would walk to a journey of no return,” she said.
Her grief is deeply tied to memories of loyalty, sisterhood, and mutual support—moments of holding each other through triumphs and storms.
“When things were tough and you almost gave up, I stood with you. When you felt discouraged, I was there for you… How do I say rest in peace, my friend?” she posed.
For three intense weeks, the two spent nearly every day together, moving from one hospital to another as they tried to keep hope alive.
And through it all, Shiro said, Bayo longed for more time.
“You kept on telling me that we should spend more time,” she said.
Bayo had been preparing for a major transition in her life.
“She was even set to relocate to the USA,” Shiro noted. “‘Shiro, come, you will miss me when I go to the US…’ she told me. I did not know you would go forever. My heart is in pain,” she added.
Their friendship carried dreams—dreams now painfully shattered.
“My friend, and true to your words, I am deeply missing you. I loved you so much, my best friend,” she said.
“I always dreamt of us raising our children together until they are old. I wanted to see you succeed. I always wished you the best. I know we will meet again someday,” she added.
Shiro admitted that her grief now comes with an added responsibility.
“I carried the burden of your kids. I might not be able to… but I promise to do my best for them,” she said. “I will try with humility, as God gives me strength, to check on them through their father and cucu,” she added.
Her pain repeatedly returns to the cruelty that overshadowed Bayo’s final months.
“You died thinking that everyone hated you,” she wrote. “You were traumatised by social media bullying. You would ask, what do they want with me? You were the most trolled and bullied artist. You were terrified that you would be mocked for your illness and suffering,” she said.
In mourning Bayo, Shiro issues a quiet but powerful plea—to a society quick to judge, mock, and tear down. A plea to recognise the human hearts behind the screens.
Because for Bayo, the wounds of the internet became wounds of the soul.
And now, Kenya mourns a stellar gospel voice dimmed far too soon.
