President Uhuru led efforts to evacuate CS Tuju after road accident

President Uhuru Kenyatta was among the first officials to be informed about the accident that left Jubilee Secretary General and Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju and 14 others with serious injuries.

Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed who arrived at the scene of the accident about two minutes after it occurred phoned the president to inform him about the same.

At about 6.45 am a chopper that was supposed to take off from Wilson Airport to Kabarak for the burial of former president Moi was delayed for about ten minutes.

Inspector General of police Hilary Mutyambai was among those who had boarded the chopper and it was ready to take off when the president’s call came in. According to witnesses, Mutyambai rushed to the pilot and asked for a slight delay to attend to the call and was allowed to disembark.

According to witnesses, he stayed on phone outside as he received the news from the president who apparently asked him to urgently organize for a chopper to transfer Tuju and his aides who had been injured.

It was then that Mutyambai ordered the police director of Airwing Rogers Mbithi to liaise with officials at Kijabe and have those injured moved to Nairobi.

“He came back to the plane after about ten minutes and we flew to Kabarak. In Kabarak he kept in touch with those at the scene to know what was happening,” said a witness.

The president is said to have informed other government officials of the accident. Amina cut short her trip to Kabarak and followed those injured to Kijabe Mission Hospital where they were admitted.

She was joined by ICT CS Joe Mucheru and tTransport CS James Macharia at the hospital.

“Tuju received immediate critical treatment at the hospital, under the care of incredible medical professionals who meticulously attended to all those injured. He has now been airlifted to Nairobi for further specialised treatment,” she said.

When Tuju was taken to the hospital he complained of chest and abdominal pains. After tests and scans were conducted doctors said the intestines had been raptured probably by the lower safety belt because of the impact of the collision between his car and the matatu.

On Wednesday night, top government officials trooped to Karen Hospital to see him but in vain. They were informed he was resting and only saw him from a distance in the ICU where he had been admitted.

The accident happened at Magina area along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway. The driver of the matatu involved in the accident was badly injured and was on a life support machine.

The matatu had 12 passengers onboard when the accident occurred Wednesday morning.

On Thursday the hospital said they received 18 patients from the accident. Out of these, three were evacuated, three were discharged, seven were taken to theatre for various operations on soft tissues, long bone and head injuries while five were admitted for observation and care. Three others are in High Dependence Unit for observation.

Police said preliminary findings had shown the driver of a salon car had stopped to allow another vehicle to branch off into a feeder road ahead.

And as the matatu was trying to avoid hitting the said vehicle, it swerved to the other traffic lane thereby colliding head-on with the motor vehicle which had Tuju onboard.

The car of the CS was badly damaged as images from the scene showed it mangled.

Heavy commercial vehicles were pushed off the road on the Nairobi-Eldoret Highway ahead of the burial event in Kabarak, Nakuru County.

Police were lined up along the highway up to Kabarak from Nairobi to enable easy movement of vehicles.