Killer Kisii school bus was 'not registered'

Eric Gituma Muthenya, a bus driver who was driving the Friday morning ill-fated St Marys Nyamagwa Girls High school bus in Kisii County when he was arraigned in court over charges of killing four students through reckless driving. It has emerged that the new school bus involved in an accident that killed four students in Kisii County last week was yet to be registered. (PHOTO: ERIC ABUGA/ STANDARD)

The new school bus involved in an accident that killed four students in Kisii County last week was yet to be registered.

It has emerged that the bus was delivered to Nyamagwa High School in a hurry because parents attending a meeting at the school wanted to confirm that it had indeed been bought.

Meanwhile, a man said to be the driver of the bus was yesterday charged with careless driving that led to the accident in Nyambunde along the Itumbe-Igare road off the Kisii-Kilgoris highway in Sameta sub-County. The accident also left 76 students injured.

Eric Gituma Muthenya, said to be an employee of Cooper Motors Corporation (CMC), denied the charges. Mr Muthenya, who appeared before Ogembo Senior Resident Magistrate Naomi Wairimu, was charged with causing the four girls' deaths.

He was also charged with causing injuries to the other students.

The accused pleaded not guilty and was given a bond of Sh500,000. Hearing was set for December 20, 2016. The case will be mentioned on September 2.

Yesterday, Enock Ondari, the CEO of Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital, said 20 students were still admitted in the hospital. The rest had been discharged.

Sources in the school indicated that the principal had been under pressure from parents to ensure that the bus was brought to school before the next parents' day. The bus was driven to school on August 11 ahead of the parents' meeting the next day.

The 54-seater bus had not been fitted with registration number plates but had the manufacturer's number - KG 637.

"After displaying it to the parents, the bus was to be driven back to Nairobi to have the paperwork completed but this never happened as it crashed while taking the girls  on a joy ride," said a parent.

Three ambulances

A source in the hospital added that a number of students admitted there were not in the bus but had been brought to the hospital after they fainted following news of the accident.

"We were called to the school shortly after the accident and we arrived with three ambulances. We took 16 students to the hospital and they were admitted together with those who had been involved in the accident," said another source.

On Friday, moments after the accident, Kisii Governor James Ongwae called for immediate investigations to establish the cause of the accident.

Thirteen students died in the same spot in another accident in 2013.

A number of road users have warned that the sharp bend in the road will lead to more deaths.