NYAKACH: Azimio leader Raila Odinga has described the Kisumu–Kakamega highway crash that claimed 26 lives as one of the darkest moments for Nyakach and the country at large.

Speaking on Saturday during the funeral service of the victims in Koguta, Nyakach, Raila said it was heartbreaking to witness the burial of so many young people whose lives, he noted, had been cut short in a preventable tragedy.

“When an old person like me dies, people say it is okay because he has lived his life. But when young people die, it is like the flowers of the earth being destroyed, and that makes it very painful,” he said.

Raila blamed the design of the Mamboleo roundabout, where the crash occurred, arguing that engineers made grave mistakes that must urgently be corrected.

“Accidents are not new, but they can be avoided. The Kisumu roundabout at Mamboleo, where this tragedy occurred, was poorly designed. Engineers made mistakes that must now be corrected,” he said.

The opposition chief recalled a near-death experience of his own nearly 50 years ago, when the brakes of a vehicle he was driving from Kisumu failed on a steep hill.

He said he survived only because the controversial roundabout did not exist then.

“I could have died, but we survived because that roundabout was not there,” Raila remarked.

The roundabout, widely blamed for the crash, was demolished overnight earlier this week, leaving behind only piles of soil. Residents woke up to find it gone.

Raila welcomed the demolition, saying it showed the government had listened and acted quickly. But he stressed the tragedy should be a wake-up call to rethink road safety designs nationwide.

“We must always ensure our roads are safe so that we do not continue losing lives in such tragedies,” he urged.

The accident involved a bus ferrying mourners from Nyakach to a funeral when it collided with a trailer at the roundabout, killing 26 passengers. Another 26 survivors are still receiving treatment at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital.