How lack of airstrip contributed to Nzamba Kitonga's death

Lawyer Nzamba Kitonga could not be airlifted from Kitui to Nairobi for quick medical attention because the county does not have an airstrip.

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka yesterday said the family wanted Kitonga rushed to the city for treatment but were unable to airlift him to the capital.

That means they could only drive.

"If the airstrip was functional, it would have been easy to send Amref to airlift Nzamba but it is closed and dysfunctional. It is sad to know that he had to die on arrival at the hospital yet he would have been airlifted," Kalonzo said.

He was speaking at the Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi where Kitonga's body was taken after he died on Saturday evening.

"Nzamba had gone to Kitui to bury his relative when his wife noticed that he was not looking well. She told him that he needed to visit a doctor but it was not easy to convince him," Kalonzo said.

The former VP said it was always difficult to convince the lawyer to leave a place.

He said widow Caroline Nzamba had to use his brother Kitonga Muthusi to try and convince her husband to visit a doctor.

"Why do you think I am sick?" That was the response Muthusi got when he suggested to Kitonga to see a doctor.

Kitonga fell unconscious a few moments later and was rushed out of the funeral.

Kalonzo described Kitonga as a team player, a humble man and one of the great minds Kitui county had ever produced. He said the region had lost a wonderful son.

He said the lawyer was both a statesman and a hero. His name Nzamba also means a hero in Kamba language, Kalonzo said.

"He even tried to succeed Willy Mutunga and had it not been for the fact that there was a consideration for regional balancing, he would have won," Kalonzo said referring to a 2016 interview for Chief Justice.

Edited by P.O