Parents of a thirteen year old girl who lost both her legs in a train accident three months ago are seeking compensation from the Rift Valley Railway Company.
Sharon Makungu, a standard five pupil at Kenyatta University Primary school,
was run over by a train as she was going to school on June 29.
Her legs were badly injured had to be amputated.
She also lost three fingers on her right hand.
Makungu reportedly slipped and fell in the train's tracks as she attempted to board the train.
Her cries for help attracted passer-bys who
rushed her to Thika Level Five Hospital where she was treated and later transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital.
The girl’s parents, Elias Ndune and Jacqueline Ndune, told the star on Thursday at Matopeni Primary school in Ruiru where she will be attending school that the company never bothered about the well being of the girl after the accident.
“They turned around my daughter’s life and killed her dreams and ambitions. It pains me a lot seeing my daughter who was energetic and blissful suffer on a wheelchair,"
said the father.
"The company has to compensate her or at least buy her artificial appendages so that she can walk again,”
he added.
Ndune said that Rift Valley Railyway did not even assist them foot hospital bills that had accrued to sh 275,000.
“They just brought a wheelchair just the other day and this was after they got a message that Nominated MP Isaac Mwaura would bring our daughter a wheel chair,” he said.
The mother said that she has been forced to close her business in Nairobi to attend to her daughter since the incident occurred.
Nominated MP for special interest groups Isaac Mwaura said that he will spearhead justice pursuit for the girl saying that the company must take full responsibility and compensate the girl.
Mwaura said that the accident was out of the company’s negligence since they did not have a conductor on the train that fateful day.
“They (the company) invited me for a cup of tea when word reached them that I would give the girl a wheelchair. I declined the ‘tea’ and told them to compensate the girl by even employing the mother so that she can manage catering for her daughter,” Mwaura said.
The ODM nominated MP said that the matter would be taken to court to ensure justice is served the young girl.
“I will also have this matter discussed in parliament because this is not the first incident. Other similar ones have been witnessed and we cannot take this issue lightly,” Mwaura said.
He said that the train has an insurance cover and therefore should meet the cost of catering for the well-being of the pupil.
An official at the company who did to want to be named confirmed that they took a wheelchair to the girl as a part of the compensation process.
Makungu, who joined Matopeni Primary school in Ruiru, told the Star that her dream to become a doctor is still alive and that she will strive to make it come true despite her disability.
“I will study hard and become the doctor I wanted to be,” she said.