MCA dies in road accident in Naivasha, two other MCAs and driver injured

Naivasha

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

KNA by Mabel Keya – Shikuku

The body of Nyamira County Assembly Majority Leader Elijah Osiemo who died in a tragic road accident in Naivasha on Monday evening has been flown to the Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi for postmortem and preservation pending investigations and burial preparations.

Osiemo who is the Nyamaiya Ward Member of County Assembly (MCA) died in a road accident at Dry port area along the Mai Mahiu - Narok Road at around 6pm on Monday. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Naivasha Sub- County Hospital.

Naivasha Sub-County Police Commander (OCPD) Benjamin Bowen said two of Osiemo`s colleagues who were with him in the vehicle and their driver were seriously injured during the incident and were initially admitted at the at Naivasha Sub- County Hospital before being transferred to Nairobi Hospital for further treatment.

The Nyamira County leaders were headed to Nairobi from Kisii when the accident occurred a few kilometers from Mai - Mahiu Town.

Bowen said that the driver of the Toyota Vanguard SUV was overtaking a motorcycle operator who was ferrying a bag of charcoal but crashed into the motor-cycle and lost control making the vehicle veer off the road and roll then landed in a ditch about 100 meters from the scene.

The police boss said the motorcyclist escaped unhurt in the incident. 

 National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) estimates that over 3,000 Kenyans die from road accidents every year - costing the country anywhere between 3-5 per cent of GDP. 83 percent of the fatalities are men, with individuals aged between 30-34 years being most at risk, thus robbing the country of a very productive age bracket. But the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates puts the figures much higher.

Sadly, these numbers have been increasing every year. For instance, data from NTSA shows a total of 4,432 road users died in accidents between January 1 and December 13, last year, marking a 3.77 per cent increase. The number of deaths rose by 161 people from 4,271 in 2021 to 4,432.

During the same period, 9,315 people were seriously injured while 6,691 were slightly injured and the months of January and July recorded the highest fatalities with 433 and 487 respectively.

The latest report released by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) on June 29 this year shows that 2, 124 people died in road accidents from January to 25 June 2023.

According to the Authority, this is a decrease of 137 compared to last year’s record over the same period where 2, 261 people were recorded to have perished in a similar period in 2022.

A breakdown of the fatalities indicated that more pedestrians were victims of road accidents with 729 recorded fatalities in 2023 followed by motor cyclists at 561 deaths, 403 passengers, 196 pillion passengers, 189 drivers and 46 pedal cyclists have died since the year started,”

NTSA had announced that the periodic retest will be mandatory, conducted every three years before a driver renews their license.

The re-tests are set to be conducted in all NTSA Driver Test Units and drivers will be required to apply online via their e-citizen account at a fee of Ksh1, 050.

Courtesy ; K. N. A