Dawn accident cuts short students’ dreams

By Kevin Tunoi

There was an instant loud screeching of tyres, breaking glasses and then. . . silence. Next to the mangled body of a taxi were four bloodied bodies — those of three Moi University School of Law students and the taxi driver. Another student, Belindah Diero , was critically injured.

The taxi in which the girls — Serah Muasya, Florence Nyokabi and Karen Musimbi — were riding on their way back to their hostel after watching the European Champions League match on Wednesday night, had rammed into a lorry it was trying to overtake.

At the scene of the accident scene, which happened at 5.30am yesterday, traffic police officers were working overtime to control the heavy traffic that had been occasioned by the smash.

Hushed tones

Groups of students communed in hushed tones and a few shed tears at the law school.

On the noticeboard that is situated significantly at the entrance, black and white passport pictures of the deceased students were pinned. Their names and registration numbers were boldly printed next to their photos.

Riziki Emukule, a close friend, told The Standard that she escaped the accident by a whisker as she usually went out with the four friends.

“I spoke to Serah and Nyokabi the day they were going out on phone as I was away at home in Busia. We talked about some educational issues and we even planned to go out and enjoy ourselves when I arrived,” she said, tearfully.

Emukule said the friends sounded jovial. “This is really sad, we have always been tight friends since we joined the school. We have been together through happy and sad moments.”

Steve Kotonya, the Law School’s students’ association chairman, said: “This is really tragic, we have lost senior members of our school who were expected to graduate next July.”

Kotonya said the students could be alive today if it weren’t for the ongoing lecturers’ strike which has has grounded activities in the institution, leaving many students idle.

Kelly Malenya, a classmate, said this about Muasya: “She was vibrant, enthusiastic and full of life. She had unsuccessfully contested a student’s leadership post in the past, Although she did not get elected, she still pressed on in the fight for better services from student leaders.”

Diero was attended to at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital despite the doctors’ strike. By the time of going to press, she had been taken in for surgery and specialised treatment.