Kimunya demotes investigator in Saitoti copter crash probe

  SHARE BOOKMARKPRINTEMAILRATING

By VINCENT AGOYA vagoya@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, September 12  2012 at  22:07

IN SUMMARY

• In a Gazette Notice dated August 29, 2012, Mr Kimunya revoked Mr Clatus Macowenga’s appointment and replaced him with Mr Martyne Luther Lunani.
• Mr Macowenga, who was the investigator-in-chief and acting Director of Accidents, had been spearheading investigations into the helicopter crash that have been running parallel with a public inquiry by a commission set up by President Kibaki.
• The changes come before Mr Macowenga submitted a report he was compiling on the crash.

Transport minister Amos Kimunya has revoked the appointment of the chief investigator in the June 10 air crash that killed Internal Security minister George Saitoti and five others.

In a Gazette Notice dated August 29, 2012, Mr Kimunya revoked Mr Clatus Macowenga’s appointment and replaced him with Mr Martyne Luther Lunani.

The changes mean Mr Macowenga will now report to Mr Lunani who, until his appointment, was an investigator.

Mr Macowenga, who was the investigator-in-chief and acting Director of Accidents, had been spearheading investigations into the helicopter crash that have been running parallel with a public inquiry by a commission set up by President Kibaki.

“In exercise of the powers confered by regulation 6(1) of the Civil Aviation (Investigation of Accidents) Regulations,1979, the Minister of Transport appoints Martyne Luther Lunani to be chief inspector of accidents for a period of three years with effect from 18th August, 2012 to 17th August 2015. The appointment of Clatus Macowenga is revoked,” the notice reads.

Mr Macowenga was supposed to be chief inspector of accidents for one-and-a-half years following his appointment on June 19, nine days after the crash.

His appointment was backdated to January 5, “to fill a legal gap for the period that the country had no chief accidents investigator in office.”

There had been no office holder between January to the time the accident occurred. The changes come before Mr Macowenga submitted a report he was compiling on the crash.

Mr Lunani, who had been an investigator at the Transport ministry for two years, was out of the country at the time of the accident.

Share This Story

  

The accident in Ngong forest also claimed the lives of assistant Internal Security minister Orwa Ojode, bodyguards Joshua Tonkei and Thomas Murimi and the aircrew, captains Nancy Gituanja and Luke Oyugi.

The inquiry, chaired by Appeal Court judge Kalpana Rawal, is expected to wind up its hearings in October. It resumes sittings next week at the KICC.

A technical team has been analysing the ill-fated aircraft’s engine at the Wilson Airport to determine its condition before the accident.

Five crucial components will be sent to Canada and France for further investigations.