Two bishops injured in accident on way to colleague’s burial

Kyenjojo/Kabarole

Two Anglican bishops on Tuesday sustained serious injuries in a motor accident on Kampala-Fort Portal Road, which also claimed the wife of one of them.

The bishops were travelling to attend the burial of their colleague, the Bishop of Rwenzori Diocese Patrick Kyaligonza who also died in an accident last week about eight kilometers from the spot where the two bishops got an accident.

Bishops Daniel Gimadu of North Mbale Diocese and Augustine Salimo of Sebei Diocese sustained injuries on the heads after their driver failed to negotiate a bend and the car overturned several times, according to the police.

Perepetua Gimadu died on the way to Fort Portal Referral Hospital. The driver, Mr Levi Bakuma and another passenger, Rev. Samuel Gidudu also got injured and were admitted to Buhinga Hospital.
The two Bishops were then airlifted in a police helicopter to Mulago Hospital while the body of Ms Gimadu was left at Buhinga Hospital mortuary.

According to Dr John Baptist Mukasa, a neurologist attending to the bishops, the patients are in stable condition. Bishop Salimo, who is admitted mainly for observation, has various bruises on the legs.

Shock, fatigue
Dr Mukasa said the bishops are both complaining of headache which he attributes to fatigue and shock they could have suffered.
By press time, Bishop Gimadu was not sure of the wife’s condition.
The accident occurred at a black spot at Kyakatara, 23 kms on Kyenjojo- Fort Portal Road at around 10:30am.

The Kyenjojo District Police Commander, Mr George Sabiiti, attributed the accident to speeding and advised new drivers on Kyenjojo-Fort Portal Road to be careful of the black spots at the sharp corners.

Gimadu’s wife, whom police said had not fastened her seat belt, smashed her head on the windscreen. The Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, who had also come to bury the late Bishop Kyaligonza visited the bishops at the hospital. He ordered for the police chopper to airlift the bishops to Mulago Hospital.

Gen. Kayihura told journalists that the police will help Uganda National Roads Authority to erect new road sign posts and safeguard them as most are vandalised by scrap metal dealers.
In another twist of events, nine students of St. Leo’s Kyegobe College were admitted to Buhinga Hospital as the school truck transporting them from the burial of Bishop Kyaligonza crashed into a tree last evening.

The school headmaster, Mr Ivan Otigo, said the driver swerved off the road as he tried to avoid hitting a stationary vehicle that had apparently run out of fuel. The Fort Portal-Kampala Highway that passes through Kabarole, Kibaale National Park, Kyenjojo, Mubende and Mityana was completed around 2006, has claimed the lives of a number of people.

Black spot
Tooro Kingdom Prime Minister William Nyakatura is still on medication after he was involved in an accident near Kyakatara last week. Presidential Advisor, Rev Fr. Albert Byaruhanga also died on the same road late last year as he was travelling home to Fort Portal.

Elsewhere, four people on Tuesday afternoon perished in a car accident at Kibega in Kanyaryeru Sub-county in Kiruhura.
Isaac Uwimaana, Judith Uwimaana, Radislas Kanyamibwa and Nampijja Kirabo were crushed in their Corolla car after it collided with a Kasese bound bus belonging to Pokopoko Bus company.

The four relatives were heading to Kampala from Kigali, Rwanda on a business trip. Police were still investigating the cause of the accident by press time. “Of course one of the two drivers was in the wrong,” said Mr Robert Mugudde, the OC traffic Mbarara. Witnesses said the Corolla was speeding from Mbarara direction closely following another Corona attempting to overtake it. The Corolla driver had not seen the oncoming bus.

Additional information by Racheal Kabeja