A man who lost his wife, in an Ethiopian Airline crash, on Wednesday, sued the Kenyan government.
Under a certificate of urgency, Henry Macharia Wairia, wants the court to order the Foreign Affairs Ministry, to issue him with his wife’s death certificate.
Wairia claims that, he wrote a letter to the ministry on May 25, 2019 asking for the certificate.
Despite writing the letter, the ministry refused to issue him with the said death certificate.
Macharia, through his lawyer Irungu Kangata, argued that the death certificate was needed to facilitate him in an application seeking compensation.
“One of the critical documents needed to effectively prosecute his claim is the death certificate which they have refused to give him, ”stated his lawyer.
He also sued the Boeing Company for damages arising from the accident that killed his wife Julia Mwashi Ingasiana in March 2019.
“In failing to avail the death certificate to the petitioner, the state has arbitrarily denied him his right to access to information which is required for the exercise or protection of his rights and fundamentals freedoms guaranteed in law,” reads court papers.
Reports by Citizen Digital disclosed that, he also produced a marriage certificate as an annexure showing that the deceased was his wife.
32 Kenyans among other nationals, perished on the Sunday morning of March 10, following the crash of a Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 airplane, shortly after taking off.
Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam visited the crash site and confirmed that there were no survivors.
Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, expressed his condolences to the friends and families of those affected.
