How man escaped accident that claimed 16 relatives

Rodovich Gikonyo, from Kahiga village in Kandara subcounty, Murang’a county, cannot express the grief that has engulfed his family.

The family lost 16 members in a road accident, which occurred along the Nakuru-Nairobi highway on Sunday, leaving the village devastated as villagers struggle to come to terms with the devastating loss.

Gikonyo was to accompany his relatives on a journey to Rongai in Nakuru to visit a kin who was unwell. The family acquired a matatu for which each member was to contribute.

But on Saturday, he received a phone call from his daughter, who is in college, that she needed to do some shopping.

“I was to accompany them together with my wife, but my daughter, who is in college called me saying she needed money and her gas cooker needed to be refilled,” Gikonyo said.

Gikonyo and his wife agreed to send her some money and that made it impossible for them to travel to Nakuru.

The journey started at his father Elijah Mburu’s home, where his mother Lydia Njeri and four sisters Joyce Wambui, Naomi Wangui, Catherine Njambi and Pauline Muthoni were picked.

The vehicle then travelled to the neighbouring Kangui village and picked his uncle Robinson Karanja and his two children Naomi Wangui and Beatrice Waithera, and cousins Grace Waithera and Eunice Ruguru.

The driver, Gikonyo’s nephew Elijah Mburu, was an experienced matatu driver who plied Nairobi-Nakuru and Nairobi-Nyeri routes.

The family then travelled through Nairobi where four others, a cousin and her three children, boarded the vehicle.

Gikonyo narrated the shock that hit them when just hours later, they received a phone call that the vehicle had been involved in a grisly road accident and several people died on the spot.

He said his family is overwhelmed by the loss, not knowing where to start.

In one of the homesteads, tents have already been pitched as residents trickle in to condole with the families and offer their support.

On Monday, the family was informed that three family members who had been rescued from the wreckage and rushed to hospital had also succumbed, raising the death toll to16.

But Gikonyo said despite the heavy grief, the family now faces a daunting task of funding post mortems for all the deceased members and transporting the bodies to Murang’a county while preparing for their burial.

The humble family, he said, cannot raise the money required for the three tasks and requires support from well-wishers and the government.

“We’ve been informed that just one post mortem will cost Sh15,000. So the exercise alone will consume more than Sh100,000. We don’t have that money as a family,” he said.

His sisters have left 12 children who need support to complete their education.

Michael Njumbi, a family member, said they were shocked when they rushed to the hospital after receiving the news.

The deceased, he said, suffered serious injuries, especially the ones that had sat near the point of impact at the front of the vehicle.

Njumbi urged the government to consider expanding the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, saying the rate of carnage and loss of lives on the road is too high.

“This is such a busy road and so many lives have been lost. It’s high time the government sets aside funds to have it expanded,” he said.

Naomi Njuguna, area MCA, challenged motorists to exercise extra care while on the road to avoid such incidences.

“This is a wake up call to road users to be more careful on the road and on the government to dual the highway,” she said.

Njuguna said she has reached out to Governor Irungu Kang’ata to help the family transport the bodies.

But she said family members require psychological support to help them process the grief

Nakuru county police commander Emmanuel Opuru on Sunday said the family was involved in a head on collision after the driver of the matatu attempted to overtake, hitting an oncoming trailer.