Victims of Salgaa crash was couple returning from Prophet Owuor rally

A couple returning home from Prophet David Owuor’s crusade in Kisumu was killed on Sunday night at Salgaa in Nakuru. Their vehicle was crushed by a passenger bus.

Monday, relatives, friends and church members gathered at NYC on the outskirts of Nakuru town to mourn with the family of William Keya, 59, and Serah Ingaitsa, 54.

Keya was a pastor at Bethany Alter in Naka and his wife was in charge of hospitality in the church.

They died on the spot after their saloon car, which had been parked at a bus stop, was crushed by a passenger bus that was coming from Kisumu, heading to Nairobi on Sunday at 2am.

According to the family, the deceased were coming from Dr Owour’s three-day Ministry of Repentance and Holiness rally in Kisumu. Keya left his home on December 28 to participate in organising the rally, which was beginning on December 30, while his wife joined him a day later.

Family members said Keya, an employee at Nakuru Water and Sewerage Company, was due to retire this year.

Billy Mulama, the elder son of the couple, informed The Standard that he was shocked to learn about the death of his parents, whom he last spoke to when they were travelling to Kisumu for the rally.

Mulama described his parents as caring, loving and good counsellors, who had shaped his four siblings. “It was so heartbreaking to receive the news of my parents’ deaths,” he said.

Jeaneby Keya, the last-born of the couple, who also attended the rally, said he communicated with his mother on Saturday around 2pm after the rally had been concluded, only to receive a call on Sunday that they had died.

“I received a call from my elder siblings on Sunday asking where my parents were. Little did I know they were breaking news of their death,” said Keya amid tears.

According to Rongai police boss Joseph Mwamburi, the passenger bus had a brake failure and was speeding during the accident.

Mwamburi said the bus driver escaped immediately after the accident. “The driver, who was speeding, lost control of the vehicle, ramming a parked personal vehicle at a bus stop,” said Mwamburi.

Elsewhere, the National Agency for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse Chairman John Mututho has expressed concern over an increase in fatal accidents in Salgaa. He said the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) had failed in their mandate.

This comes following two grisly road accidents over the weekend where eight people including five teenagers perished on the spot.

While consoling the bereaved families, Mututho said the road design had contributed to the high number of deaths.

Mututho said the authority had on several times raised the issue with NTSA and KeNHA but no action has been taken.

“For months, we have raised the issue of the road design but unfortunately, not much has been done,” he said.