State sets aside Sh2 million for Ntulele bus crash victims burial

By Geoffrey Mosoku

NAIROBI, KENYA: State has agreed to foot burial expenses of the 41 accident victims who perished at Ntulele last week after a city to city bus crashed in the area along Nairobi-Narok highway.

The government on Wednesday announced that it will purchase coffins and transport bodies of the deceased to their resting places.

Homabay women representatives Gladys Wanga confirmed to Standard that the government through the Homabay County Commissioner has allocated Sh2 million for the expenses.

“I am happy to report that the government through the county commissioner has given out Sh 2 million towards meeting the expenses of the funeral,” Ms Wanga said.

The legislator said the amount will help in buying coffins and meeting transport costs to the victims’ homes.

She said by Wednesday, 30 out of the 41 victims’ homes have been traced with most of the bodies moved to Homabay from Narok, adding that only three are still in Narok.

“Majority of the dead were from our county and we have traced their relatives whom we are working with to agree on the burial programmes,” Ms Wanga who has been coordinating the events in Homabay said.

The ODM legislator said local leaders and the families of the deceased were currently consulting with a view of planning a join requiem mass for the victims.

The 41 perished on Thursday last week, when the City to City bus was involved in the fatal accident in Ntulele, near Narok. Majority of the dead were headed to the lakeside couth of Homabay.

Already the owner of the bus and the driver have been charged in court for operating a bus that did not comply with TLB rules.

The accident only came a month after 13 students from various secondary schools in Kisii County died in a grisly accident which was blamed in overloading and driving at night.