On Wednesday 29th, two officials from the Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) admitted that the ferry that claimed the lives of Mariam Kaghenda and her daughter in 2019 was faulty.
The two died after their vehicle slipped and fell in the ocean on September 29 2019.
Rescuers took 13 days to retrieve the bodies of mother and daughter who were found in a tight embrace, in an incident caught the attention of Kenyans.
Kennedy Mukhebu an engineer with KFS told Mombasa Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku that all blame fell on the faulty prow that failed to provide sufficient buoyancy for the ferry.
‘I cannot say that MV Harambee was in good condition. Its prows could not be lifted. They were just set above the water level,’ stated the engineer.
Mukhebu ruled out chances of the ocean turbulence causing the accident as he was present the evening of the accident.
KFS Managing Director Bakari Gowa agreed with Mukhebu’s admission that the safety measures of MV Harambee were not in place and argued that had the government fixed them earlier the accident would have been avoided.
He emphasized that there is little he could do to repair the faulty prows as the facility lacked funds to fix broken ferries from the time he took over in 2016.
‘As much as general operations of the KFS is my responsibility, my funds are tied if there are no funds. It is the engineering unit that is responsible but I take responsibility for the operations within the facility,’ Gowa stated.
