Mine would have been next funeral after Moi’s, says Raphael Tuju
Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju, ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru and others participate in the Kijabe Tuju Charity Walk along Nairobi-Nakuru highway on June 20, 2021.
What you need to know:
- The Jubilee official narrated how the news of his “death” was broken by a radio station following the accident at Kijabe, sending his village in Nyanza into mourning.
Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju reunited with the driver of a matatu that was involved in an accident with his car, leaving them both with serious injuries.
The Cabinet secretary on Sunday helped to raise more than Sh11 million through a 57-kilometre corporate charity walk to Kijabe Mission Hospital to help equip the theatre and emergency unit.
Mr Tuju said the corporate sponsored charity walk that collected Sh11,391,385 was a special tribute to all the people who contributed to his miraculous survival and the consequent recovery after the road accident on February 12, 2020.
"This walk was meant to turn pain into purpose," Mr Tuju said after completing the 10-hour walk from Karen Hospital to Kijabe, in Kiambu County.
He started the walk at 2am on Sunday, accompanied by his personal physician and Karen Hospital's proprietor, Dr Dan Gikonyo, together with staff from various organisations and family members.
Mr Tuju was later joined by President Uhuru Kenyatta's brother Muhoho Kenyatta, Cabinet secretaries Joe Mucheru (ICT), Amina Mohammed (Sports) and governors Anne Waiguru (Kirinyaga) and James Nyoro (Kiambu).
The Jubilee official narrated how the news of his “death” was broken by a radio station following the accident at Kijabe, sending his village in Nyanza into mourning.
The Cabinet Secretary without portfolio had just been involved in the horrific road crash at Kijabe, on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, as he travelled to the burial of former President Daniel Arap Moi in Kabarak, Nakuru County.
Driver apologises
On Sunday, the driver of the matatu that crashed into Mr Tuju's car, Mr Bernard Muya, apologised for the accident, even as he thanked God for saving their lives.
"I always pray every time I set out to work so that God grants me journey mercies while on the road. I thank God for saving our lives that day," Mr Muya said.
Mr Tuju and Mr Muya were taken to Kijabe hospital where they were both treated before the CS was flown to Karen Hospital in Nairobi and later, to the UK.
“There were social media postings and one radio station had broken the news that I had died,” Mr Tuju said.
“My 86-year-old mother, who had buried my late brother Kefa, who had died of brain cancer just a year earlier was at my Rarieda village home reconciling with the breaking news and hosting some wailing mourners Luo-style,” he added.
At the time of the accident, “I was on my way to Kabarak to attend the funeral of Senator Gideon Moi’s father, the late President Moi. If I did not recover, we keep saying, mine was the next big funeral he would have been forced to attend.”
Mr Tuju, however, recalled that when he had the accident, it was not the first time news of his death was broken.
“The first time was when I survived a plane crash in Busia in 2003,” the Jubilee official says.
The 2003 crash left then Labour Cabinet Minister Mohammed Khalif and two pilots dead while Mr Tuju and his colleagues Martha Karua, Linah Jebii Kilimo, and other leaders survived.
Mr Tuju said he decided to do the fundraiser for the Kijabe hospital as a kind gesture to help equip it to benefit other patients.
“At this modest mission hospital, thanks to availability of reasonable scanning equipment, a health team led by an Australian missionary -- Dr Peter Bird -- detected that I had life threatening internal bleeding besides the many fractures I had sustained.
“The bleeding was so serious that it was obvious to the doctor that I could not have survived even with a helicopter ride to Nairobi.”
CS Mohammed’s help
Mr Tuju recalled that he was rushed to the hospital by Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed.
“She frantically called for assistance from Nairobi and by the time we reached the hospital, a helicopter had been diverted and was on the way to Kijabe.”
“A decision was made to operate on my abdomen to stop the bleeding,” Mr Tuju recounts.
He adds that the doctor also found that one of his broken ribs had pierced his right lung, which had collapsed, causing laboured breathing.
“The operation by the mission hospital stopped the bleeding. I was then placed in a chopper with nurse Mary Mungai from the hospital who helped me breathe using a hand pump,” the CS recalls.
He revealed that his long-time friend and personal physician, Dr Gikonyo, had rushed to Kijabe when he heard of the accident.
“On arrival at Kijabe, he assessed the proceedings at the mission hospital then drove back to the Karen Hospital to prepare to receive me at the ICU.”
“So many people came to my rescue and I will never be able to adequately thank them. The team at Kijabe hospital deserve my special thanks because if they did not make the initial lifesaving interventions, the rest who came to my aid would not have anything to work with apart from helping with funeral arrangements,” Mr Tuju observed.
He added: “I must acknowledge with deep appreciation the role played by President Uhuru Kenyatta, who went out of his way to ensure I received every possible help at that critical time.”
Months of rehabilitation
The accident, he said, fractured 18 bones in his body.
“Following several months of rehabilitation that started with painful attempts to stand and make baby-like steps to reach the bathroom, I recently celebrated my new found freedom and ability to walk.”
The act of doing a corporate sponsored charity walk to Kijabe Mission Hospital is an act of paying special tribute to tens of people who contributed to the miracle of my survival and the consequent recovery.”
He concluded: “I must make special mention of the following people that exhibited solidarity in ways I could not have imagined possible; The President – Uhuru Kenyatta, CS. George Magoha, CS Sicily Kariuki, David Murathe, PS. Karanja Kibicho, CS Fred Matiang’i, Mr Muhoho Kenyatta, CS Amina Mohammed, who was the first senior official at the scene of the accident, Ms Liu Tongqiao of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Cabinet colleagues, political leaders from all sides, family, friends and relatives.”
Corporates that contributed to the walk are Safaricom, Kenya Commercial Bank, Cooperative Bank, Isuzu Kenya, Toyota Kenya, Hass Petrol, Delbit, among other companies and individuals.
