Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju, who was hospitalized on Wednesday, February 12 following a road accident, received bad news on February 13, to compound on his already tough week.
To add on to the CS without portfolio's woes, he lost a bid to stop the recovery of a Ksh1.5 billion debt he owes the East African Development Bank (EADB).
Tuju had moved to the High Court seeking to block the auction of properties which he used to access a multi-million dollar loan for the construction of luxury apartments in Nairobi's leafy Karen suburb.
EADB had sought to enforce a ruling by a London court that found the Cabinet Secretary to have defaulted on the loan, including principal and interest.
Justice Wilfrida Okwany upheld the judgement by the UK court, noting that the bank had satisfied all conditions for the ruling to be enforced in Kenya.
"The case has been active for some months. It started in London and now we get a chance to present our side of the story to the Kenyan court system after a ruling by a part-time judge who is a partner in the firm that represented [the bank] and refused to recuse himself.
"Our lawyers have our instructions to deal with the court process," Tuju told Kenyans.co.ke on Tuesday, January 7.
The loan was expected to facilitate construction of twelve two-storey bungalows on a forested 20-acre piece of land known as Entim Sidai.
It was also to see a 94-year-old bungalow owned by Scottish missionary Albert Patterson, currently operating as an upmarket restaurant, acquired. Construction on the Ksh1.2 billion project, however, fell behind schedule.
On December 23, 2019, the lender appointed George Weru and Muniu Thoithi as receiver managers for the properties to oversee the sale of Tuju's assets to recover the loan.
Tuju was involved in a road accident at Magana along the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway on Wednesday, February 12.
According to various reports, a matatu rammed into Tuju's car in a head-on collision as the matatu driver switched lanes to avoid crashing into a saloon car ahead of him.
The Toyota Allion, had reportedly slowed down to allow a car ahead of it to branch into a feeder road on the right causing the matatu to veer onto the lane Tuju's oncoming vehicle was on.
Tuju was quickly airlifted to Kijabe Hospital where he underwent surgery having reportedly sustained injuries to his chest.
Tuju’s bodyguard, Charles Oyaro, and his driver, Austin Oinde, sustained injuries as well.
The Cabinet Secretary was later airlifted to Karen Hospital in Nairobi after surgery at Kijabe and is said to be in stable condition.
The matatu driver identified as Bernard Kariuki was found unconcious and was taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Kijabe Hospital.
