Retracing Magoha’s last moments

Former Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha — who died on Tuesday evening — had woken up on the ill-fated day in high spirits, ready to give his younger brother a decent send-off.

His brother, Prof Richard Alex Nyabera Magoha, died in the US last month and his body was scheduled to arrive in Kenya on Tuesday, ahead of his burial on Saturday. His funeral will proceed as planned but there are indications that Prof Magoha will be buried on February 11.

Magoha had planned to receive his brother’s body at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) at around midnight on Tuesday. However, that was not to be. The former CS died hours earlier and his body was transferred to the Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi, same as his brother’s.

The family is still coming to terms with having two brothers dying within weeks of each other and their bodies sharing space in the same mortuary.

People Daily has learned that Magoha had on Monday engaged in a lengthy conversation with his younger sister Pauline Dola. He reportedly complained that he had been unwell for some time.

Dola, the Kakamega County Commissioner, offered to travel to Nairobi the following day to check on Prof Magoha. She was to be accompanied by her brother, Joseph Oyile, a retired District Commissioner.

On Tuesday morning, Magoha opted to remain indoors. He summoned an aide and sent him to buy four air tickets; for the former CS, his wife Barbara, Oyile and Dola, who were to travel to Kisumu yesterday.

At around 1.30pm, Magoha and his wife hosted friends for lunch at their Lavington residence. Although he was in high spirits, he occasional complained that he was experiencing some difficulties in breathing.

Had everything gone as he had earlier planned, he would have gone to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at around midnight to receive his brother’s body, which was scheduled to arrive from Allen, Texas, where he had died on December 6.

Unfortunately, his condition got worse at around 3pm when he again complained of extreme dizziness and weakness.

Tragedy struck

“This was not the first time he was having such a feeling and so they took it easy thinking that it was all going to be okay,” said a source close to his family.

Had tragedy not struck, Magoha and his siblings would have left Nairobi for Kisumu yesterday, from where the former CS would have proceeded to Maseno University to report for the first time since his appointment as Prof of Medical Surgery earlier in the month.

Today, the former CS would have received his brother’s body at the Kisumu International Airport, from where it would have been taken to the Aga Khan Hospital mortuary for preservation. Again that plan was not to be.

The family had also planned that Alex’s cortege would leave the hospital’s mortuary tomorrow, Friday, for an overnight stay at his home. And on Saturday, a requiem mass was scheduled for Township Primary School Yala to followed by interment at Alex’s Umiru home in Yala, Gem Sub-county.

Alex will be buried as planned, according to family sources.

At his home, workers were busy putting final touches to the grave. Across the fence, however, workers were still waiting for instructions from Magoha’s family.

When he visited Magoha’s family yesterday, former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju recounted how Magoha looked exhausted on Monday afternoon. When asked about his condition, Magoha had attributed it to exhaustion arising from his involvement in planning his brother’s funeral.

“We agreed on everything concerning the Saturday burial,” Tuju told reporters.

Tuju, Azimio leader Raila Odinga, Prof PLO Lumumba and former Westlands MP Fred Gumo later visited the residence to send their condolences to Magoha’s family.

Raila said Magoha will be remembered for the discipline he instilled in the management of education, his hard work, professionalism and dealing with cases of exam cheating.

“It is a tragedy that the bodies of two brothers are lying at the Lee Funeral Home,” Raila said after meeting Magoha’s widow.

Transform the hospital

When Raila and Magoha last spoke about a fortnight ago, the don reportedly told Raila that he would transform the Faculty of Medicine at the Maseno University, where he recently landed a teaching job.

“He promised he was going to do his best to transform the hospital,” Raila said. “I have worked at the University of Nairobi before and I clearly understand the changes and improvements he made at the university.”

Meanwhile, health professionals have questioned the use of ambulances in emergency situations, describing it a systemic deficiency that should be urgently addressed.

A Consultant Pathologist, Dr Ahmed Kalebi, said it was disturbing to hear the sequence of events that led to Magoha’s death.

“I wondered why an ambulance was not called immediately instead of calling his friend, Prof Walter Mwanda at Kenyatta National Hospital, who even had to go back for a blood pressure machine,” said Kalebi in a series of messages on his Twitter handle.

“Unfortunately in Kenya even in urban locations and among the educated populace there is a huge lack of knowledge and awareness of the importance and utilisation of ambulances in emergency situations. This is a systemic deficiency in our health system that should be addressed,” he said.

Incidentally, People Daily had exclusively reported that the National Hospital Insurance Fund pays about Sh1.2 billion to E-Plus every year to provide emergency road accident evacuations to its members. However, the service only benefits a handful of members because they are not aware that the service is available to them in the first place.

It would appear that the problem is widespread and many Kenyans do not know emergency numbers they need to seek help during medical emergencies.

This is compounded by a perception that the numbers do not work.

Former Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Union (KMPDU) Secretary General Chibanzi Mwachonda yesterday lamented that Kenya lacks an efficient, State-owned Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

“The family would have called EMS directly for assistance and an ambulance availed to their location in the shortest time,” said Mwachonda on his Twitter account.

“I empathise with the situation of his (Magoha) son, Dr Michael Magoha, who had to conduct Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in a normal car with no fitted emergency medical equipment. That trauma will be lifelong, I do hope that you will find comfort that you did your best given the circumstances”.

Magoha’s close friend, Prof Walter Mwanda, narrated the sequence of events leading to the former CS’s death on Tuesday night. He indicated that he was at his Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) clinic when he received a call informing him of Magoha’s illness.

Emergency services

“As I was about four kilometres to Magoha’s home, his wife sent me an SMS and asked me to get an ambulance. I was too close to their home. At the time, there was heavy traffic,” Prof Mwanda said.

When he got there, he found Magoha seated.

“He greeted me and said ‘oh, you have come’. [I told him yes]. I then began taking his blood pressure [reading]. It wasn’t recording. At that time, he slipped off from his sitting position,” his friend said.

“We immediately carried him to his waiting car. His wife and my driver followed his car,” said Mwanda.

As they approached the casualty wing of the Nairobi Hospital, Magoha collapsed. Attempts were made to resuscitate him, but the doctors were unable to revive him.

The KMPDU Secretary General, Dr Davji Atellah, said much as are ambulances are available, emergency services in Kenya are very poor.

“We lack emergency medical care. This is because in most cases, some public hospitals and even some private ones do not have capacity for emergency services,” he said, blaming the situation for sometimes avoidable loss of lives.