How Martha Karua, CJ Koome Survived A Plane Crash In Busia
What began as a typical day, or rather a joyful and celebratory day, ended with two powerful women in hospital beds after being mistaken for dead.
Martha Karua, the leader of the Narc Kenya Party, had to build such a thick skin to become the self-proclaimed ‘Iron Lady’; one must have been through a lot, and Karua has.
Karua described her meeting with mortality in her book ‘Against The Tide’, which may have cost the country one of its most prominent leaders.
It was shortly after the naming of the Cabinet in 2003, and the NARC team members, in a joyful mood, organized festivities for the win, which they termed the celebrations as ‘homecoming’ parties.
One of the homecomings was planned to commemorate the triumph of then-Vice President Moodey Awori.
He was the newly appointed Minister of Home Affairs, and the celebrations were held in Busia County, near the Kenya-Uganda border. The celebrations were scheduled for Friday, January 23, 2003.
After the celebrations ended, then-Attorney General Amos Wako drove Martha Karua and Martha Koome to the airstrip.
The intention was to accompany others to Bondo for Raila Odinga’s homecoming. Raila was the Roads Minister at the time, and the group planned to continue their celebration in Wajir.
What a throw back. This is when we were recovering from the 2003 Busia Plane Crash. https://t.co/Q95vmQYrg5
— Martha Karua SC (@MarthaKarua) July 19, 2024
Other passengers aboard the plane with Karua and Koome included then-Labour Minister Ahmed Mohamed Khalif and Information Minister Raphael Tuju.
Just as the jet took off, Karua turned back to Koome and said, “Madam, take notice, we are airborne.”
These were her final words before she escaped death. Then she awoke in a hospital bed, unable to lift herself.
When Karua awoke in the hospital, she discovered that the 24-seat Gulfstream aircraft she was flying in had crashed shortly after takeoff.
The crash killed Labour Minister Ahmed Mohammed Khalif, as well as both pilots, Sammy Mungai and Abdikadir Kuto.
The plane collided with an electric pole, crashing into a house. According to Karua, she and Koome went missing and were mistaken for dead.
“Martha Koome and I could not be initially accounted for because our rescuers took us to the nearest facilities, in my case Tabaka Mission Hospital,” Karua narrated.
“For a while, we were feared dead, but there was no trace of the bodies at the scene of the crash. Before the government’s official communication, rumours about ‘our deaths’ had begun to circulate, and some of my constituents were already in mourning.”
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Karua said that she had major brain injuries and was unable to stop talking while being taken to Nairobi for additional treatment because she thought she would die if she did.
“I knew I had serious injuries because I could not lift myself. I was motionless but alert and talking non-stop. While at the Busia Hospital, I was informed that our two pilots and Mr. Khalif had sadly perished in the crash,” Karua continued.
To date, the senior counsel has stated that she does not know who rescued her and Koome and transported them to Tabaka Mission Hospital.
She had no idea how the crash occurred, but her images in the media of blood on her face, hair, and clothes, as well as the three deaths, painted a picture of the horrifying scenario.
How Martha Karua, CJ Koome Survived A Plane Crash In Busia
