An employee of the government died on the spot in a road accident on the Narok-Bomet highway yesterday.
The accident occurred at 6a.m. when the saloon car he was driving collided head-on with a lorry.
A female passenger in the car was admitted at a local hospital in critical condition.
The deceased’s car was coming from Narok town while the lorry was heading in the opposite direction.
Stephen Momanyi, a guard at a nearby building, said the driver of the saloon car was thrown out of the vehicle on impact but the female passenger was trapped in the wreckage.
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The occupants of the lorry, who were also injured, were rushed to Narok County Referral Hospital by local Kenya Red Cross Society officials who arrived at the scene a few minutes after the accident.
Three of the victims were treated and discharged while the driver and a female occupant were still admitted.
“We took the woman to hospital in a critical state and she needs specialised treatment,” said Ali Juma, the local Red Cross Chairman.
He, however, expressed disappointment over the hospital staff who he said were slow in responding to emergency.
“The response of the health staff at Narok hospital was poor. The police had to go to hospital to pick gloves to pick the body several hours after the accident. The county should come up with a specialised disaster response team to deal with such situations in future,” Mr Juma said.
Last Thursday, three people died in another accident at Ntulele area on the Nairobi-Narok highway after the driver of a truck ferrying wheat flour lost control.
Tree planting
Meanwhile, The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has rolled out a programme aimed at encouraging pupils and students to develop a culture of planting trees.
The ministry’s Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe said the programme, dubbed Greening School, aims at increasing the country’s forest cover from the current 7 per cent to 10 per cent.
Speaking during the National World Environmental Day Celebrations at Maasai Girls in Narok County last week, Mr Lesiyampe said the programme targets inculcating tree planting culture in Kenyans at an early age.
“We are optimistic that if we teach young Kenyans the need to conserve the environment early, then destruction of nature witnessed currently will be addressed,” said Lesiyampe.
The PS warned that wetlands continue to be drained at an alarming rate to provide space for agriculture, human settlement and urban development.
“There is an urgent need to strike a balance between the environmental functioning and wetland use for livelihood support,” he said.
Lesiyampe said the ministry is currently implementing various projects in collaboration with international partners and relevant institutions through the national education awareness initiative.
