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Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • 17,000 Ugandans to miss out on cancer treatment – expert

    {Radiotherapy is an important modality in treating cancer and absence of a radiotherapy machine leaves patients with locally advanced cancer in great pain, Dr M. Arunlal, an Indian radiation oncologist, has said.}

    Dr Arunlal, who is part of a delegation from Aster DM Healthcare, a conglomerate based in the Middle East and India, planning to train doctors and set up telemedicine centres in Uganda, said that basing on the global cancer burden statistics about 55 per cent of the patients need radiotherapy treatment.

    His visit to Uganda came at time when the country’s lone radiotherapy machine has broken down beyond repair and its replacement is not due for at least one year due absence of a bunker to house a new one.

    In an interview with Daily Monitor, Dr Arunlal who has more than four years experience in radiation oncology, said Uganda needs about six radiotherapy machines which are geographically spread across the country if it’s to improve cancer management. “It is a challenge to have one major cancer centre with one machine.

    This poses a major risk to the healthcare system since cancer treatment requires a multi-disciplinary approach,” Dr Arunlal said. “Ideally, according to global oncology statistics, Uganda has about 32,000 new cancer cases and about 55 per cent (about 17,600) of these will need radiotherapy treatment,” he added.

    While explaining the machine’s impact, Dr Arunlal said radiotherapy treatment is normally used on patients whose cancer presentation is at a locally advanced stage, also referred to as stage three.

    Due to limited technological advancements, Dr Arunlal said cancer deaths are high in less developed countries like Uganda yet they have low cancer incidences compared to more developed countries whose mortality rates are low despite high numbers of cancer patients.

    He said the new hope for cancer patients is the emergence of immunotherapy, a type of cancer treatment designed to boost the body’s natural defences to fight the cancer. “It uses materials either made by the body or in a laboratory to improve, target, or restore immune system function,” he explained, adding that tests were last year confirmed successful for the treatment of lung and skin cancers.

    Finance State minister Fred Omach, who received the team of specialists in Kampala on Monday, said a partnership between Aster city hospital based in Kerala, India, with government will help Uganda build its capacities in treating and detecting cancer using new technologies.

    Health Minister Dr Elioda Tumwesigye, told MPs on the Health Committee of Parliament yesterday that “the good news” is that the Ministry of Finance had accepted to provide Shs30b needed for the construction of a bunker for the cancer machine.

    The Managing Director FATRO Consultant-Radiation Oncology, Dr M. Arunlal addresses the media in Kampala on Monday. Left is Fred Omach, the State Minister for Finance(General Duties).

  • ‘Corruption in Kenya’ documentary airs in millions of US homes

    {The documentary is part of a mini-series “Inside Kenya,” and tells of how ubiquitous grand graft has become.}

    Corruption in Kenya has caught the attention of a major US public broadcaster, PBS, which aired a 10 mini-documentary series titled “How widespread corruption is hurting Kenya” at prime time on Monday night.

    PBS is the most prominent provider of television programmes to public television stations in the United States and its programmes are transmitted to tens of millions of homes every day.

    The documentary is part of a mini-series “Inside Kenya,” and tells of how ubiquitous grand graft has become.

    Many of the interviewees painted a grim picture, even claiming that it is, more than ever before, threatening the future generations.

    Narrated by Nick Schiprin, a former foreign correspondent with Aljazeera Television Network, the mini-feature states in the preamble that although the World Bank has listed Kenya as the fastest growing country in sub-Sahara Africa, graft is a major impediment to its prosperity.

    While examining the reality of the vice, the report looks at how prevalent it has become from the lowest levels to the high and mighty in the society.

    It opens with an athlete, identified as Hillary Kiplimo, who tells of how his $3,500 winnings vanished with officials of Athletics Kenya, the body charged with the responsibility of promoting prospective professional athletes, leaving his future dreams shattered.

    The Eurobond saga also features in the story, with former Finance ministry employee Alex Owino claiming that documents were forged to hoodwink the public.

    ‘The corruption we have now poses an existential risk to Kenya. Before, we stole from ourselves. Now, with the Eurobond, we are mortgaging the futures of our children,” says John Githongo, a former permanent secretary and the Kenyan government and an anti-graft tsar,

    “Corruption in this country starts from the presidency to the judiciary to the legislature. So, all arms of the government are rotten,” says activist Boniface Mwangi, one of the interviewees.

    “It’s almost brazen. If you look at it, it’s almost like a smash-and-grab heist,” says Mr Owino.

    Daniel Mwirigi, who says he investigated graft at Post Bank tells how dangerous it is to volunteer information in Kenya.

    He says when reported the crime, his bosses colluded to frame him with the very crimes he had exposed.

    “My parents died thinking that I am a thief. There’s no point of doing a good job in this country, the future generations are doomed,” laments a bitter Mwirigi.

    The documentary is made in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and is produced by Zach Fannin.

    While some of the issues tackled are not new to many Kenyans, the vast reach of PBS clientele will most likely affect the perception of many prospective tourists from North America, who the Kenyan government has been wooing aggressively in recent days.

    A screengrab of the mini documentary on graft in Kenya, aired and distributed by US public broadcaster, PBS on Monday.

  • Tanzania:Beggars ordered to leave Dar

    {The RC said it is better for all beggars to go to the right place that deals with social welfare. They should not disturb other members of the community on the streets.}

    He said that the presence of big numbers of beggars is also a challenging situation in terms of security in Dar es Salaam. “I have discovered that 80 per cent of beggars come into the city on their own fares.

    So, I urge them to use their own fares to go back to their home places before an operation that will see them under arrest begins next Monday,” Makonda told reporters yesterday.

    At the same occasion the Dar es Salaam Special Zone Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr Simon Sirro, urged the chairpersons of local government to cooperate with the Police Force to arrest all beggars in their areas before next Monday.

    “Do not wait for the police only to conduct this operation as it has been ordered by the RC. We have to cooperate to promote defence and security in order to keep the city free from crimes,” said Sirro.

    Mr Makonda, who is also the chairman of the regional defence and security committee has urged the owners of highrise buildings that do not have parking space to see him at his office on Monday for either paying fines or build parking lots immediately. The other option is to demolish their buildings.

    “We want the city that has a good arrangement. Flat owners are aware that parking space is necessary but I wonder why they continue building without considering areas for parking,” he said.

  • 40,000 face hunger as floods hit eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

    {Flooding in the Katanga Province, southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has destroyed houses, farms and livelihoods, and it is thought that 40,000 people face food shortages. Without a contingent climate risk adaption strategy in place, and with the global effects of El Niño set to continue, it is likely that Katanga could face further flooding and humanitarian emergency.}

    Katanga is a region of the DRC all too familiar with disaster. The region, infamously given the title “The Triangle of Death” by the international community, was the focus of a brutal effort from rebel group Mai Mai Bakata Katanga to secede from the DRC in 2014. This caused the displacement of 400,000 people and a severe lack of food, water and basic services. Many farmers were targeted by the Bakata Katanga who burned down their houses, stole their cattle and destroyed their livelihoods, causing food insecurity and malnutrition in the area.

    The conflict was resolved in 2015 by a joint U.N. Mission, restoring the hopes of many as well as the livelihoods and prospects of many smallholder farmers. The rains came seasonally on time and many had expected the situation to continue to improve. But instead the rains kept on coming, causing the Congo River to flood and swamp farmers’ fields. Though the threat of conflict has reduced somewhat, residual political insecurity has affected the ability of the international community to respond to the situation, making the region largely inaccessible to NGOs. The issue of food security continues to plague the region.

    In recent years, the area has faced both acute food shortages and malnutrition. A Save the Children report in 2010 estimated that around half of all children in the region are chronically malnourished. Though child malnutrition had briefly improved in the area following the cessation of violence, the effects of flooding have made the situation chronic again.

    Flooding in Katanga has only further compounded food shortages, “undermining humanitarian and development actors’ efforts to assist vulnerable people and communities,” said Claude Kalinga, World Food Program communications and reports officer based in Kinshasa. The livelihoods of many farmers, who have seen their crops washed away, have greatly suffered, exacerbating already chronic levels of food shortages.

    Response to the situation in Katanga is difficult, given its remoteness and the issue of accessibility in a part of the country that often sees recurrent and large-scale flooding. The violence of 2014 has destroyed much of the road infrastructure, for example, making it harder to reach rural communities in need.

    Currently there is no coherent, comprehensive international response to the crisis. Much of the efforts from the international community has been on responding to the drought effects of El Niño seen in much of the southern half of the continent, Kalinga said.

    Such adverse climate patterns “were not expected in the central part of Africa, especially with this level of intensity,” said Catherine Hiltzer, desk manager of Solidarités International’s office. Little of the response has been on “ensuring that people are protected against climate risks,” said Kalinga, adding that “there is no dedicated monitoring or early warning systems in place” to ensure humanitarian agencies and local organizations are prepared before floods strike.

    The effects of El Niño on Katanga are very real. Generally in the DRC, the rainy season begins in September every year, but for the last two years, the start has been delayed, with the season starting in December last year. As a result, “the farming season was disrupted and this has had a negative impact on smallholders’ agricultural production and on the sale of their produce in local markets,” Kalinga said. Harvests have been affected, creating a greater demand for food on an agricultural system that does not have the capacity to deal with climate risks.

    Given the shortage of local food production, organizations like Solidarités International and World Food Program have stepped up to meet the needs of the crisis. Relief efforts have included “conventional” food handouts that are just about meeting basic needs, but it is clear that more must be done to combat longer-term climate shocks that will continue to affect the region beyond the current situation. Both Hiltzer and Kalinga argue that, in order to restore the local agricultural system and prevent crop loss, actors both at national and international level must provide more contingent strategies to mitigate these shocks and provide coping strategies for smallholder farmers.

    Food for assets projects that strengthen resilience and reduce disaster risk, as well as seed saving, are part of this wider response, Hiltzer said. However, the very strategies employed to improve the resilience and increase the capacity of communities to deal with climate effects like flooding are under threat due to a lack of funding. So far the response has been critically underfunded, with humanitarian organizations needing “the support of additional donors to make sure that the successes of resilience projects are not totally destroyed by El Niño,” Hiltzer said.

    Given the scale of the crisis, organizations like World Food Program are “limited in their ability to deal with the impact of such a devastating phenomenon,” Kalinga said, if the funding is not there. The international community must take stock of the crisis in Katanga and ensure that the livelihoods of smallholder farmers are protected against floods as much as they are against drought. The “phenomenon” in Katanga was not expected to hit so hard and has caught the international community off guard. Kalinga concludes by saying that it is the role of the media to provide better coverage of the crisis to ensure that humanitarian agencies respond accordingly.

    A family cultivates its field on the outskirts of the town of Kalemie, Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo.

  • Uganda:Besigye responds to Museveni remarks on election loss

    {Former presidential candidate Kizza Besigye has responded to President Museveni’s attribution of the election loss by the Opposition to being weak and in a slumber.}

    President Museveni told his supporters last Saturday at Kololo Airstrip during celebrations for his election victory that he was amazed by his opponents who say the presidential elections were rigged but wondered why they also lost parliamentary and local government elections.

    “If you are saying you were rigged at the presidential level, how come you lost parliamentary, LC5 and sub- county elections? How can they cheat you three million votes? Did you have agents? Did you have a political party? That means you are in a slumber,” Mr Museveni said.

    But while appearing on the NTV Fourth Estate show on Sunday, Dr Besigye said the rigging was widespread across all levels. “This was not an election. I have said it over and over but some people don’t get it. NRM is not a party. It’s the State. We are contesting against the DISOs, GISOs, RDCs. If you want to understand how pervasive the situation is, many of our candidates were arrested. Many people had their results changed at the tally centre, especially in the local government elections,” he said.
    Dr Besigye, who has contested and lost four times to President Museveni, dismissed Museveni’s argument, saying there is no correlation between attaining majority seats in Parliament and winning presidential election.

    “That’s an argument of people evading the truth because Dr Kiggundu gave me 35 per cent; but in Parliament we [FDC] have 10 per cent. Why? If you think that the votes of President must have some relevance to other elections, why doesn’t FDC have 30 per cent of MPs?” he asked.

    When asked why the Opposition failed to field candidates in some districts and constituencies and yet NRM had candidates at all levels, Dr Besigye blamed the ruling party for using state resources to field and fund its candidates. “Many candidates, who stood on NRM ticket don’t believe in NRM. They would have preferred to stand in other parties where they know they would not be molested. They go to NRM because they know they have someone to use in elections,” he said.

    Democratic Party president Norbert Mao admits the Opposition was “fragmented” but said Mr Museveni should not use it as an excuse for “rigging” elections. “We are going to outlive him. We shall have the last laugh. Let him attend to issues affecting the country, not undermining the Opposition,” Mr Mao said.

    {{Results }}

    Mr Museveni scored 60 per cent and Dr Besigye got 35 per cent. The NRM got 294 Members of Parliament while FDC has 34. Out of 112 local council 5 chairpersons, NRM has 84.

    Mr Museveni scored 60 per cent while Dr Besigye came second with 35 per cent.

  • Kenya:University of Nairobi suspends 62 students over strike

    {Vice-Chancellor Prof Peter Mbithi said the institution has initiated disciplinary process against the students.}

    The University of Nairobi (UoN) has suspended 62 students for being involved in rioting and destruction of property during a recent students’ unrest.

    Among those who have been sent home is Mr Mike Jacobs, who led a group of students in protesting against the re-election of Mr Paul Ongili, also known as Babu Owino, as the Student Organisation of Nairobi University (Sonu) chairman.

    Mike Jacobs lost to Mr Owino, attaining 3,000 votes against the winner’s 18,000 claimed the elections were rigged in favor of the winner with the help of the administration.

    Vice-Chancellor Prof Peter Mbithi said the institution initiated disciplinary process against the students “for participating in student unrest and destruction of public property”.

    “They are therefore required to collect their suspension letters from the Registrar, Students’ Affairs, latest by Friday, April 15, 2016,” said Prof Mbithi, in a notice to students posted on the university’s website on Tuesday.

    He, however, did not indicate how long the suspension would last.

    The suspension of the students comes just a day after the VC held lengthy talks with Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiangi and his Interior counterpart Maj-Gen (Rtd) Joseph Nkaissery.

    Mr Matiangi said he would not interfere with any action or decision that the university would make concerning the strike that led to the closure of the university last week.

    On Monday last week, the protests against Mr Owino turned chaotic when the students burnt Sonu offices.

    The students blocked a section of University Way and Uhuru Highway before police used tear gas to disperse them.

    The university’s senate held a meeting the following day and resolved to close the university. Students were ordered to vacate the campus by 5pm.

    The date for reopening of the university remains unknown.

    The University of Nairobi's main entrance.

  • EALA members want Tanzanians to grab investment opportunities

    {Tanzanian members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) have urged fellow countrymen to use business and investment opportunities in the 162-million people regional bloc, which last month admitted South Sudan as new member.}

    At a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Chairman of Tanzania Chapter in the EALA, Makongoro Nyerere, said the parliamentarians will conduct countrywide sensitisation to woo Tanzanians to tap the existing opportunities.

    “It is high time our people woke up and make use of these openings rather than complaining all the time,” Makongoro said at the Tanzania Information Services auditorium.

    He explained that the sensitisation campaign seeks to inform Tanzanians of available openings in other member countries of the East African Community EAC), namely Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

    According to Makongoro, the campaign will cover institutions of higher learning, media outlets, the National Assembly of Tanzania as well as market places and other public areas.

    The first phase of the campaign is scheduled to begin in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, soon and end on April 23, this year. “Tanzanians should be on the forefront of exploring opportunities brought about by the EAC integration.

    With the advance of technology such information could just be obtained on mobile phones,” he noted.

    Speaking at the same occasion, EALA member Shy-Rose Bhanji, mentioned openings in the bloc as jobs and markets for locally produced goods since such products are not taxed when sold within the EAC.

    She dared Tanzanians to as well seek jobs in other member states, citing teaching in Kiswahili as among areas where teachers could be employed.

    Chairman of Tanzania Chapter in the EALA, Makongoro Nyerere

  • Car crash kills 18, injures 55 in Burundi

    {A passenger bus crashed on Saturday evening, killing 18 passengers and injuring 55 others at Benga in Bujumbura Rural province, 18 km east of the Burundian capital Bujumbura, local administration officials said Sunday.}

    “The passenger bus of the Burundi state-run transportation company (OTRACO) crashed yesterday (Saturday) at about 18:30 (16:30 GMT) when the bus linking the capital Bujumbura to Rushubi in Isare district had reached the level of Benga. It is difficult to say how many passengers were in the bus but by midnight, 18 passengers had died and 55 others had been injured and admitted in various health structures,” Xinhua quoted Gilbert Niyonkuru, administrator of Isare district, as saying.

    According to him, the bus crash took place almost three km after branching from the asphalted road linking Bujumbura to Bugarama.

    He indicated that most of the victims of the accident were masons who generally construct houses in the east African country’s capital Bujumbura.

  • Uganda:Cancer patients to wait for 2 years

    {About 2,000 cancer patients in need of radiotherapy treatment in Uganda will have to wait for about two years to receive relief from unbearable pain following a breakdown of an old Cobalt 60 radiotherapy machine last month.}

    The breakdown of the machine has caused national and international public outcry and has attracted widespread condemnation of government. Some sections of the public criticised government for failing to prioritise cancer treatment in the country following a Shs1.4 trillion supplementary budget passed by Parliament last week without funds dedicated to cancer.

    At a hastily organised press conference by the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) yesterday, the Health Minister, Dr Elioda Tumwesigye, instead defended government for “astronomic budget increments to UCI.”

    “From the 2014/15 budget, government gave UCI about Shs8 billion, Shs17 billion this financial year and in the financial year 2016/2017, government is going to give the cancer institute about Sh41b,” Dr Tumwesigye said.

    He said government has already placed an order to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to replace the old Cobalt 60 machine installed 21 years ago.“There are different types of radiotherapy machines and what we have is an older model and there is another machine we are buying and I think a receipt has been provided to you. We will be bringing a Cobalt 60 Machine,” the minister said without being specific on the date.

    He said the machine has been offering free treatment to many foreigners running away from high treatment cost in their countries.

    However, Dr Tumwesigye said the new machine has been delayed by construction of a bunker to house it since the old bunker was found to have safety problems.

    Terming the bunker construction process as complex, Dr Jackson Orem, the director of the UCI, said it has taken about two years to have the designs of the bunker approved by IAEA since it uses nuclear and atomic technology.

    He said the process of constructing a bunker will last about one year or more depending on the speed of the contractor and availability of funds. It will then be followed by the process of manufacturing and shipping of the machine.

    “We have gotten the design of the bunker and we are now left with the company to have work done. We have three reputable international companies which are being evaluated and if all goes as planned the groundbreaking ceremony should take place in the first week of May,” said Dr Orem.

    A receipt document seen by this newspaper circulated by UCI on social media indicates that government paid 325, 297Euros ( Shs1.2 billion) to IAEA offices based in Vienna, Austria on May 22, 2013.

    “This amount represents a voluntary contribution from the government of Uganda, through Mulago Hospital Complex for the purchase of the Cobalt 60 Telepherapy machine under the IAEA Cooperation project UGA/6/015,” indicated the receipt in part.
    Dr Tumwesigye said the machine break-down has negatively impacted on the capacity to treat cancer by less than 20 per cent since there are other treatment cancer treatment methods like chemotherapy and surgery.

    However, an official from the cancer institute told this reporter that about 75 per cent of cancer patients require radiotherapy treatment.The machine has been treating about 100 patients per day.

    Definition
    By definition, radiation therapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses beams of intense energy to kill cancer cells. Therefore, the breakdown and delays to replace the treatment, will leave about 2000 cancer patients treated every year with unbearable pain.

    According Dr Tumwesigye, the construction of the bunker is expected to cost the government a total of about Shs30 billion which will be disbursed in lumpsum after the health ministry agrees with that of Finance on how to make the money available. He said the infrastructure will have about seven bunkers which will house other cancer machines like the recently acquired high dose blackytherapy machine for cervical cancer and others to be purchased at a later stage.

    The institute also lacks a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scan) and positron emission tomography (PET) scan, all specialised instruments required for proper cancer treatment and diagnosis.

    With the current stalemate, Dr Orem said that the institute will provide alternative treatments to patients who have been on radiotherapy and also provide palliative care to about three quarters of the patients whose cancers have reached advanced stages.

    A physicist administers radiotherapy treatment to a cancer patient at Mulago hospital using the old Cobalt 60 machine bought 21 years ago.

  • Kenya:Outrage as driver of killer bus returns behind wheel

    {Licence was cancelled after 43 people died in crash but man is still driving.}

    The driver of a bus that killed 43 passengers at a black spot on the Maai Mahiu-Narok road three years ago is back on the road even though the authorities had announced that his licence had been cancelled.

    Mr Steve Sola Mutia, who sparked national outrage and attracted the attention of President Uhuru Kenyatta after his bus was involved in the deadly accident in Ntulele in August 2013, has been driving buses on the Nairobi-Mwingi-Garissa route.

    This is even as it came to light that the driver, popularly known as Sola, had been involved in other fatal accidents but returned to work after a lull.

    This turns the spotlight squarely on the National Transport and Safety Authority and traffic police department.

    After the Ntulele accident, President Kenyatta said both the driver and owner of the bus, known as City to City, would be held accountable.

    Mr Mutia is facing charges of causing 43 deaths by dangerous driving and last appeared at a court in Narok last week.

    WENT INTO HIDING

    He allegedly lost control of the 62-seater Homa Bay-bound bus which plunged into a valley, killing 43 people instantly.

    He went into hiding but was later arrested.

    The owner of the ill-fated bus, Mr Mohammed Sheikh, was also charged with running a defective vehicle and failing to keep a record of his drivers.

    Reflecting the national outrage, then Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau bluntly said: “This is not an accident, this is murder and somebody has to be answerable.”

    Then Traffic Commandant Samuel Kimaru, now the Firearms Chief Licensing Officer, ordered all buses belonging to the City to City firm to be impounded and the driver’s licence revoked.

    However, the fresh revelations raise questions on how Mr Mutia manoeuvred his way back to the road before the conclusion of his trial and after he was banned by traffic police.

    The 48-year-old driver told the Sunday Nation he was never banned but applied for fresh documents after the accident.

    “I lost my driving licence alongside my wallet, mobile phone and other personal things in that accident. When I applied for a replacement, I wasn’t denied,” he said.

    Mr Mutia, who is out on bail, said he went back to driving to fend for his family after his left hand healed from fractures sustained in the crash.

    After the accident, Mr Mutia allegedly admitted the bus had excess passengers and was overloaded with luggage despite him warning the two conductors, who died in the accident.

    He, however, denied he went into hiding, saying he fled to avoid being lynched.

    “I contacted some cousins who picked me up in Narok and drove me to safety. I was traumatised and confused, but I surrendered to the police after being treated,” he said.

    Yesterday, the NTSA said it was trying to establish if it was true that the driver got back his licence.

    “We are checking out records to establish if the said licence was re-issued or if it is a genuine one,” said Director-General Francis Meja.

    But in a shocking fresh twist, our investigation established that Mr Mutia had, in the past, been involved in a number of accidents in which at least 10 passengers died. He has subsequently faced separate judicial proceedings. According to family and police sources, who spoke in confidence, he has in each case escaped with minor injuries.

    In 2005, Mr Mutia was arrested and charged in a Thika court after his bus knocked down and killed two hawkers. It was not immediately clear what the outcome of the case was.

    Friends and relatives, however, said Mr Mutia is an experienced driver who grew up behind the wheel but his career has been blighted by accidents.

    In 2006, a bus he was driving crashed near the Kanyonyoo junction on the Mwingi-Thika highway, killing some passengers and injuring others.

    Mr Francis Mutemi, a resident of Mui Basin in Mwingi East who survived the accident, said the driver lost control as he negotiated a corner.

    “I’ve known Sola for years and I recall that day clearly. We boarded his Nairobi-bound bus in Mwingi at around 7 am,” he said.

    Mr Mutemi, who still walks with a limp due to injuries he sustained in the accident, alleged the driver was speeding and overtaking dangerously.

    “We had done only 40 minutes of the journey and there were other buses competing for passengers,” he said.

    Mr Mutemi claimed Mr Muita disappeared for a few months after that accident but reappeared to continue driving.

    His story was corroborated by Mr Delywash Ramzan, a manager at Mombasa Raha Bus Company at the time.

    “I cannot recall the exact date but it was in 2006 when Sola left Mwingi town for a morning trip to Nairobi. I later got a call from the office and rushed to the scene where I found the bus lying on its side,” he said.

    ZERO DEATHS

    Mr Mutia admitted to the Sunday Nation that he was involved in the accident but denied there were any deaths.

    “There were no deaths in that accident. I am not a careless driver. It was only bad luck that the bus veered off the road, injuring a few passengers,” he said.

    He also denied claims that he went into hiding fearing arrest, saying he was then operating with a police abstract after his licence was confiscated the previous year.

    Mr Mutia was to run into trouble again in October 2007 when he allegedly knocked down the conductor of his bus as he jostled for passengers at Mui market in Mwingi.

    According to a public inquest, the conductor, Mr Sammy Kaka, died on the spot after he fell and was run over by a Family Coach Services bus driven by Mr Mutia.

    Mr Elijah Nzomo, a witness, told the inquest that Mr Mutia escaped lynching by a mob.

    The inquest, however, absolved Mr Mutia of any blame and acquitted him.

    NTSA communication director Dominic Kabiru said there was no complete database of drivers involved in accidents.

    He said: “It is difficult to say it is the driver who caused the accident. There could be so many reasons — mechanical, road engineering and others,” he said.

    The bus wreckage at Ntulele on the Narok-Mai Mahiu road on August 29, 2013.