The Cultural and Education Attaché at the South Sudan embassy in Kenya, Elizabeth Dicho, on Monday night succumbed to injuries she sustained in a freak accident in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Chol Mawut Unguec Ajongo, South Sudan’s Ambassador to Kenya, told Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday that the deceased diplomat was involved in an accident on Friday evening after leaving work and was rushed to The Kenyatta National Hospital by well-wishers.
"Yes, our colleague Elizabeth was in charge of culture and education affairs at our embassy. According to the information I got, after leaving the office on Friday evening, she went home at around 7:30 pm and after that, she left the house and went out, and on her way they had an accident, Ambassador Ajongo said. “We have not met her after the accident but according to a preliminary report, she was knocked from behind while she was driving. Then she stopped the car and came out and was yelling at the person who knocked her from behind. So the guy decided to accept his fault and asked Elizabeth to sort out the matter outside the court. So the guy decided to reverse the car and run away.”
According to Ambassador Ajongo, while the deceased diplomat got out to inspect the damage at the back of her vehicle, another car came and knocked her.
“While she was inspecting the damage on her car, another car came from the same direction and hit her on both legs but the injury on the left leg was severe. She fell and there was no one to help her,” Ajongo said. “After a while, according to the report, there were some Kenyans who were passing by and heading to Kenyatta Hospital and they took her to Kenyatta Hospital and she was left at the emergency department. And since there was no one attending to her, she was left bleeding from 8.30 pm up to 10:30 am the following day. This is when I came to hear the news.”
He said he immediately dispatched an embassy staffer to the hospital to handle the matter.
“The hospital administration demanded insurance of USD 2,000 and said failure to pay meant she would not be taken to the operation room. We did not have anything to do. I tried to hand them my passport as a guarantee but they couldn’t agree. It was Saturday and there was nothing much to be done. I went to the office and wrote a letter to the hospital as a personal commitment from the embassy. I promised in the letter that I will pay the money on Money,” Ajongo said.
He said after undertaking to pay the medical bill on Monday, the hospital administration decided to operate on her at 2:00 pm.
“On Sunday, I told other colleagues to go and see her and upon their arrival they found her speaking to people around her but since she was bleeding for more than 8 hours, this had affected her and her wound was also infected and this is what caused her death,” Ajongo explained. “On Monday, I got a call from some colleagues that her health is deteriorating. So I decided to go there at around 3 pm and I found her situation was getting worse. We decided to transfer her from Kenyatta to Nairobi Hospital but as we were going through this process, she developed low (blood) pressure and her kidney continued to experience failure and her heart also started bleeding.”
He said that in the afternoon the doctor advised that she was losing blood and needed a transfusion which he agreed to but that they would also have to amputate one of her legs and required the authority of a family member.
“But I said she is a diplomatic figure and our colleague as well, and if this could save her life, that would be good. So I gave it a go. This is what happened yesterday (Monday) up to 7 pm. I left the hospital at around 7:30 pm and left one of our colleagues there to follow,” the envoy said. “At around 9 pm, the doctor called me that the situation of this girl is deteriorating and he doesn’t think they will be able to contain the situation again and the percentage of life is less than 20 percent. She passed on last night (Monday) at 9 pm.”
The deceased diplomat was a teacher by profession and studied at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and also possessed a master’s degree in education and was enrolled in Nairobi University as a Ph.D. student.
She was appointed Cultural and Education Affairs officer in the South Sudan embassy in Kenya in 2015.