LAST WORD
On The Silent Killer
F
or those that have the time to allow
Ochieng to reminisce for a while, he
would like to take you back in time
and discuss events in the year 2000 which
turned out to be our annus horribilis and
a year that would be memorable for many
wrong things.
Some will recall that we had spent the
previous December holding our collective
breath after the Y2K bug threat that
computers would cease to work after
midnight December 31st 1999 and the
world, especially the financial sector was in
a panic.
Nothing happened on that account but
Ochieng woke up on a Monday morning at
the end of January 2000 with the horrific
news that a Kenya Airways plane had
crashed off the coast of Cote D’Ivoire and
a hundred and sixty nine people had died
with ten survivors.
Ochieng could not forget the outpouring
of grief and the mourning that gripped
Kenyans as authorities in Abidjan combed
the sea in search of survivors and retrieval
of bodies. The nation united in support of
all those who had lost loved ones.
There was a by the hour update as the
breaking news were relayed from the scene
of the crash to all the media houses locally
and internationally. The media ensured
that this incidence was given adequate
coverage due to a national tragedy.
This would not be Kenya if such an
incident was to take place without the
usual Kenyan know it all squad who are
quick to give their opinion on what went
wrong and how the crash could have been
avoided and their unsolicited advice of
how to run Kenya Airways.
Most memorable was the setting up of
free trauma centers that were put up and
manned by doctors and psychologists who
gave their services pro bono to help the
affected families come to term with their
loss and to adjust to their new reality.
But the real thing that should be declared
a national disaster is corruption. This is
really the cancer that is decimating Ken-
yans. A cancer so deep rooted that there
is hardly an aspect of Kenya it does not
touch. Corruption is what causes us to
elect incompetent leaders that are not
then able to use the national resources
at their disposal to plan and implement
a better future for all Kenyans without
bias.
94 MAL31/19 ISSUE
Later that year another horrific accident
took place, this time it was a bus
accident. An Akamba bus collided with
another bus named Shaggy along the
Nakuru-Kericho highway and both the
buses burst into flames.
One hundred and five Kenyans lost
their lives in this particular accident and
fifty seven were admitted into hospital
with injuries. The survivors that were
interviewed and the ubiquitous eye
witnesses all concurred that the buses
were over-speeding.
Ochieng has never been able to fathom
the psyche of Kenyan passengers who
know that a bus is being driven recklessly
and dangerously, yet no one speaks up
or asks to be dismounted to save their
lives, why are we unwilling to confront a
solitary driver?
But in sharp contrast to the earlier
event, there was no national angst; we
had the usual condemnation of greedy
bus companies that have drivers on long
hauls without adequate rest and the
usual mention of black spots. Plus the
usual debate on night travel by buses.
You got a few clips of the survivors; piled
three to a bed in a hospital that does not
even have a qualified doctor and the
usual addendum that the more critically
injured had been transferred to Nakuru
and Kericho hospitals for specialized
attention, whatever that means.
Apparently people who are involved
in bus accidents and whose loved ones
die in those accidents do not seem to
experience trauma. Even the sad news
is tucked away on page five as a usual,
common and unfortunately expected
occurrence.