Family in agony after two relatives perish in lorry accident in Kisii Town

A family in Botori, Kisii County is agonising over the loss of its two members in a freak accident that snapped out three other lives last Sunday.

Ms Grace Moraa has been inconsolable after losing her son Jared Nyagaka and her mother-in-law, Wilkister Moraa, who were crushed by a lorry after the driver lost control and ploughed into them.

The victims were walking home from church at Nyambera on the potholed Daraja Moja-Nyamataro road when the accident happened.

Three other people, including the driver and two other occupants of lorry, also perished in the accident.

More than 200 people have so far lost their lives along the potholed stretch of road in the last 15 years.

The late Nyagaka, a talented choir trainer and singer in the local Catholic Church had been in high spirits that morning, having woken up early to attend Mass at Bishop Mugendi Nyamokenye Primary School.

“He woke me up at 5am that day. I protested that it was too early since I was supposed to be out of bed by 5.30am,” Mr Daniel Mbera, his best friend told Nation.co.ke.

Mbera recalled how happy his friend had been during the church service.

“It was a wonderful Mass service. My friend Jared took the first reading. He also read the responsorial psalm,” said Mr Mbera.

After the church service, Jared and his grandmother decided to walk home.

LORRY HOOTING

“I was walking ahead of them with my daughter Teresa Kwamboka. I suddenly heard the awful sound of a lorry hooting behind us,” said Ms Veronicah Onsomu, a member of St Gregory Kianyabinge choir.

“I quickly grabbed my daughter’s hand and we ran for or our lives. Fortunately, I tripped and fell, taking Teresa down with me,” she adds.

Lying on the ground and immobile, Ms Onsomu witnessed what she says will live with her for a long time.

“I saw the ill-fated transport truck fly over our heads and land in the trench ahead of us,” she said.

When she rose to her feet, a sharp pain in her right knee was the only reminder of the ordeal she had just undergone.

Ms Onsomu was relieved to find her 10-year-old daughter alive and well.

“I then began to retrace my steps to see whether Jared and his grandmother had also survived,” she said.

Unfortunately it was not to be.

FIVE DEAD, FOUR INJURED

“We found Jared lying on the grass next to the road. He was bleeding from the head and unresponsive. His grandmother lay a few meters away, with her left leg severed. They were already gone,” she sobbed.

In a split second, the fateful accident had claimed five lives.

Another four were taken Kisii Level Six Hospital where they are recuperating but in critical condition, according to the hospitals CEO Dr Enoch Ondari.

On Tuesday, residents held a demonstration demanding that the road be repaired immediately.

Mr Walter Nyakundi, a former chairman of the Kisii Town Business Community Association, says that the road has been a menace for too long.

APPEAL TO PRESIDENT

This is despite the fact that President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and other senior government officials used the road on their way to Marani during a recent visit to the region.

“He (President) promised to ensure that the road is completed. Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i also repeated the pledge when he visited the county in his capacity as acting [Transport] CS. We are yet to see the pledges materialise,” he says.

Kisii County Secretary Johnstone Ndege also urged the national government to hear the residents’ cry and repair the road.

“This road has claimed [many] lives. The national government should do something about it,” said Mr Ndege.