Two injured as Kagame escort car involved in accident

Rwanda President Paul Kagame (left) with Kenya's governors in a summit organised for them in Naivasha on Monday.

By Cyrus Ombati

Limuru, Kenya: Two people were Tuesday morning injured after a vehicle that was in Rwanda President Paul Kagame’s motorcade was involved in an accident along Nairobi-Naivasha highway.

The vehicles were racing to Nairobi when the car crashed in Ngara Riga area, Limuru, police said.

Police said the vehicle that was involved in the accident was carrying the president’s luggage.

“The driver lost its control before it crashed. It belongs to the Rwanda embassy in Nairobi but was in the presidential convoy from Naivasha,” said a senior officer who was at the scene of the accident but who asked not to be named.

Those injured in the 8:20am incident were rushed to Aga Khan Hospital as heavy police was deployed at the scene, according to St. John Ambulance.

The president, who was not injured, was in an escort of more than 20 cars.

Kagame’s convoy was racing to State House, Nairobi where his Kenyan counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta was waiting for him, officials said.

His car did not stop at the scene. The other cars drove off to State House where he arrived at about 9am. Security was tight along the highway as his motorcade cruised to Nairobi.

Police were immediately mobilised to the scene to secure it and take the injured to hospital.

Officials said they are investigating the incident; the scene of the accident is usually marked as a black spot.

Kagame arrived in the country Monday to give a key speech in the ongoing governors’ meeting in Naivasha, about 100 kilometers away from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.