A court in Nairobi has begun hearing an inquest into the death of well-known writer and former Nation Media Group journalist Prof Ken Walibora, opening with a police officer’s account of how he was found lying injured on the road moments after a hit-and-run.
The session on Wednesday marked the start of a process aimed at piecing together what happened on the day he was fatally struck near the Machakos Country Bus Park.
Corporal Mwanagisi Hilal, the first witness to take the stand, told the magistrate that she was carrying out her normal traffic duties on April 10, 2020, when she was alerted that a pedestrian had been knocked down.
She rushed to the scene and found Prof Walibora on the ground, surrounded by members of the public who were trying to help.
The officer said the writer was in deep pain when she arrived. Witnesses at the scene informed her that the vehicle involved was a speeding minibus that fled immediately after the crash.
She explained that by the time she got there, the matatu had already disappeared, and those present could only describe how fast it was moving before it hit him.
Hilal told the court that their efforts to get the injured author to hospital were slowed by heavy traffic at the busy stage.
She said they struggled to find a vehicle that could reach him easily due to the congestion around the area. He was eventually taken to hospital but later passed away while receiving treatment.
The inquest is expected to examine the chain of events leading to his death, including concerns raised about the delay in securing medical attention and the unresolved questions surrounding the hit-and-run. More witnesses, among them police officers, health workers and people who saw the crash, are lined up to give their accounts as the hearings continue.
Prof Walibora, who authored the popular book Siku Njema and many other works, died at 56. His death drew widespread calls for a full explanation of what happened in the moments leading to his passing.
The court will reconvene for the next session of the inquest.
