The mother of two girls who perished alongside four other college students in the accident along the Kisii-Kilgoris road blames herself for her daughters’ demise.
Ms Rachel Muthiga, who is yet to come to terms with the painful loss, revealed that on that fateful day, her daughters were supposed to travel for a burial of one of their cousins but she advised them not to.
The distressed single mother maintains that her daughters — Vinnah Morangi, 21, and Valeria Wangare, 20, — would still be alive had she allowed them to attend the burial that was held in Meru.
"I have lost two flowers that had begun to flourish. This is the most painful thing to happen to any parent. I have single-handedly struggled to educate them since their father died in 2001. They have schooled together in primary, secondary and now in university," Ms Muthiga said during an interview.
According to Ms Muthiga, her daughters were too close to their late cousin and the family felt it would not have been easy to control them.
Vinnah Morang’i had even posted on Facebook about the death of their cousin Abel Ndirangu, whom she described as a brother and friend.
The slain girls’ mother noted that they had informed her of their ill-fated journey to Kisii but she didn't know the specific place where the party was to be held.
"I know a majority of their friends and the best thing I have always is to allow my girls socialise with their friends. However, I always monitored them and sometimes kept them off bad company," the mother said.
Ms Muthiga’s daughters were among a group of seven youths who were heading to an all-white birthday party of one of their friends when the accident that killed eight people occurred.
The Toyota Noah car that the deceased were travelling in collided with two other vehicles — a lorry and a saloon car — killing them on the spot.
