MP Who Lost Wife & 9 Children in One Accident

Former Kamukunji MP George Nthenge was involved in an accident in Machakos that wiped out his wife of 25 years and nine of their children. 

On the fateful day in 1978, the family of 12 was travelling to Nairobi in their spacious Peugeot 504 station wagon, along with a relative. 

When Nthenge, who was driving, reached Athi River Bridge on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, he decided to overtake a lorry whose driver had signaled him to pass. 

He narrated that as if out of nowhere, he saw another lorry hurtling in his direction with the lights on full beam. 

The politician swerved to the right to try and avoid the oncoming sand-packed lorry but unfortunately, the other driver thought the same thing. 

The two vehicles rammed into each other on a ditch beside the road, an impact that left his car almost flattened to the ground, and the lorry’s entire front axle knocked out.

"In a split second, we went bang into the dark, ugly nose of the hulky trailer and our world imploded on that early morning," he told journalists during an interview with The Standard.

In a split second, his four daughters and four sons were killed by the impact and his wife succumbed as rescuers tried to get her out of the wreckage. 

One of his daughters was evacuated from the scene but also succumbed to injuries.

Miraculously, his son escaped with only a broken arm. 

The whole time, Nthenge had lost his consciousness and when he came to, he was being driven to a hospital. 

"I tried to shout demanding to be told what had become of the rest of my family, but no word came out. I just stared blankly as my son, Antony said softly: ‘Everybody is dead, including mummy’," he recalled. 

The former MP’s niece was confined to a wheelchair but she, too, died six years later from complications resulting from the accident.

Since his injuries could not allow the politician to leave the hospital, he had to give permission to relatives to bury his late family members in his absence, however painful that was for him.  

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