KEMU students stuck in Tanzania after varsity games
A group of Kenya Methodist University students stand besides their broken down bus in Kondoa, Tanzania. The students have two nights in the cold after their bus developed a mechanical problem. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- KEMU bus broke down on Friday night in Kondoa, Dodoma in northern Tanzania.
- The team was coming from East Africa University games held in Dodoma.
- Dean of students says that the issue should not be highlighted in the media.
- Students spent two nights in the cold, survive on a meal a day.
A group of Kenya Methodist University students returning from the just ended East Africa University games are stuck in Tanzania after their bus broke down.
The sixty students with three officials are looking at the possibility of spending the third night inside the bus at a place called Kondoa, about 150km from Tanzanian administrative capital Dodoma.
The 11th edition of the 2018 East African Universities Games took place between December 17-21 at Dodoma University.
According to an official who requested not to be named, the team left for Nairobi at about 10pm on Friday, before their bus developed mechanical problems at around midnight.
The official said that the bus driver sent the damaged component back to Dodoma for repair, but it has not been brought back and the bus is still parked by the road side two days later.
The university administration has declined to arrange for alternative means of transport insisting that the party waits for the damaged part to be sent from Dodoma, fix the bus before proceeding with their journey.
“The management has told us that we have to wait for this bus to be fixed before proceeding. We don’t know when they will be through with the repair in Dodoma and looks like we may spent another night out here in the cold,” he told Nation Sport on phone from the northern Tanzanian town of 15,000 inhabitants.
The team has been forced to survive on one meal a day and depend on well wishers and villagers for places to take a bath.
When contacted for comment, the university’s dean of students Jeff Ikiamba dismissed our queries as a “non –issue”. “This is just an in-house affair and media should not be involved. The university is taking all steps to ensure all students return home safely,” he said.
