With 33 people being confirmed dead, among them was the driver behind the wheels of the modern coast bus that plunged into a river at the Nithi blackspot. The modern Coast bus driver’s wife learned of the shocking news just like the many Kenyans who were watching the 9 pm news on Sunday 24th July.
The ill-fated bus driver’s wife has opened up about how he often complained about the condition of the vehicle but his employer ignored it. The driver was a husband and a father of two.
“I was in a school meeting and he spoke to our child promising to send money via Mpesa. That was the last time we spoke. When I tried calling his phone, he was mteja (not reachable)”
“So at night I got a phone call from some people who informed me that there has been an accident near Meru and they said there was a man. I told them I don’t know about an accident because I have not heard anything.”
List of accidents that have occurred at Nithi Bridge
“So on the 9 pm news that was when I saw the accident and identified the bus. I decided to go to the scene and identify my husband, and when I got to my gate, they identified that he was the one driving the bus and he had died in the accident.”
She also says that the bus company had not paid the husband his salary for a very long time. She has a bone of contention with Modern Coast Express Limited over her husband’s pending salary arrears
“When they returned to work, they had never been paid their salary since February and until now, the salary has not been received. He comes home broke, without even as little as a hundred bob.”
“Mtu amelala kazi, ameshinda kazi and he comes home emptyhanded. Sasa amekufa hivyo, hana pesa.”
Translation from Swahili: ‘He slept at his workplace, he stayed there most of the time and he comes home emptyhanded. And now he has just died, without any money.’
“He has left me with children. What will I feed them?”
The wife also revealed that the husband used to complain a lot about the condition of the Modern Coast bus he was assigned to drive.
“Akifika tu ananiambia, ‘Mama Mercy hii kitu ni Mbovu! Gari ni Mbovu!’”
Translation from Swahili: ‘He arrives home and tells me, the bus condition is so terrible.’
“He gets home and can’t sleep. He immediately leaves and goes to the garage. He used to say the brakes are failing, (Brake inafail) until his death now.”
A family friend corroborated her information about the terrible condition of the bus.
“He used to tell me that his employer would give him a better vehicle, but this did not happen That vehicle went to the garage and he drove it to Nairobi.”
NTSA has ordered a crackdown on all modern coast buses, preventing them from plying Kenyan roads until further notice. Investigations have began on how Modern Coast Express Limited manage their vehicles.
