Wednesday 26 September 2007

Injured minister Kapuya transferred to Muhimbili


Injured minister Kapuya transferred to Muhimbili
By Lucas Raphael, PST, Tabora
Defence and National Service minister Juma Kapuya, who was involved in a fatal road smash in Tabora on Monday, was flown to the Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam where he began undergoing treatment yesterday. An official from the ministry confirmed that the minister was flown from Tabora yesterday evening to the Muhimbili Orthopedic Institute (MOI) for specialised care. However, he would not give details of the minister`s condition. Prof Kapuya sustained injuries when his car overturned and rolled over at Usindi village near Kaliua township, killing three people. Three other people in the car were seriously hurt. Tabora Regional Police Commander Muhud Mshihiri said two of the dead were bodyguards accompanying the minister. He identified them as Ramadhan Waziri and Khalfan Kiloko. The RPC said the third person killed in the crash was Ushokola Ward councillor Haruna Shamshey, who also was riding in the accident car. Those who survived the smash alongside the minister were his personal assistant, Lt Col Leopald Kalima, Urambo District CCM chairman-elect Twaha Ngoswe and a man identified only as Shigela Bundala. `The minister`s convoy was travelling from Kashishi Ward in Urambo District towards Kaliua, where he had visited earlier in the day accompanied by a number of cotton board members in the region on a mission to motivate cotton growers,` said the regional police chief, adding: `A front left tyre burst then made the driver lose control of the vehicle, which made it skid off the road and roll over three times.` Urambo District Commissioner Kassim Majaliwa gave the minister`s condition as `serious but stable`, noting that efforts were being made to move him and the three other survivors to Muhimbili. The DC said that, just before the accident, the minister had expressed a wish to make a stop-over at Kaliua to break his fast because time allowed him to do so. He elaborated that Prof Kapuya, a Muslim, is observing the Holy Month of Ramadhan. According to the DC, a special government plane had been dispatched to Tabora to move the minister and his fellow injured to Dar es Salaam for further treatment. The accident came hardly two weeks after a former deputy minister, Mchinga legislator Mudhihir Mudhihir, lost his right arm in a road crash near the Lindi municipality involving his car. He too had been on a tour of his constituency and was discharged from MOI a few days ago, pending further expert attention abroad. MOI Public Relations Officer Juma Waziri confirmed yesterday evening that they were expecting Prof Kapuya to be brought to the hospital `any time from now`.
SOURCE: Guardian