The early morning of February 17th, 2025 marked the beginning of a long and painful journey for Ena Coach driver Tom Ondieki. What started as a routine trip from Nairobi to Busia turned into a life-changing tragedy near Maseno.
At around 5 a.m., the bus he was driving was involved in a serious accident. Passengers escaped without injuries, but Ondieki suffered a devastating wound that led to the amputation of his hand. His life, work and future were instantly reshaped by that single moment.
In the hours that followed, Ondieki was rushed to Masaba Hospital where doctors fought to stabilise him.
Ena Coach leaders, including the CEO and a company director, travelled to the hospital to see him, reassure him, and promise that he would not go through the aftermath alone.
After several days in hospital, Ondieki was discharged to continue recovery at home. The company says it kept him on the payroll and remained in contact during his healing process. Before the accident, he had served for seven months as a committed employee, and both sides agree that his record had been clean.
But what began as a tragedy soon grew into a dispute centred on compensation, communication and responsibility. Ondieki says he has been left struggling to cope with his permanent disability and claims that the support offered has been slow and inadequate. He argues that months after the accident, he still cannot work, cannot support himself and feels abandoned by a system that should have protected him.
ENA Coach CEO Richard Mogire. Photo Courtesy/File
His frustrations pushed him to go public on social media, where he shared his challenges and questioned the validity of the insurance documents provided to him.
Ena Coach, however, has given a different version. The company maintains that it followed every procedure required by law and that Ondieki was insured at the time of the crash. According to CEO Richard Mogire, the company filed all necessary documents, including insurance claims and forms required by the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services. They also say that they have consistently reached out to Ondieki, but that communication from his side has sometimes been irregular, making it harder to complete the process.
The conflict intensified after Ondieki, through his legal team, sent a demand letter insisting the company admit liability and pay damages. The insurance company later assessed the case and offered Kes. 650,000 in September 2025, an amount Ondieki rejected.
Ena Coach then relied on DOSHS to calculate the official compensation. DOSHS released a final figure of Kes. 1,028,994.37 but the company states that Ondieki delayed submitting additional medical documents needed to finalise the procedure.
While the company insists that everything has been handled transparently, the dispute has sparked wider conversations about employee welfare, accountability and the speed of compensation processes within Kenya’s transport sector.
Many Kenyans have followed the case with interest, pointing out that injured workers often face long and frustrating battles before receiving help.
Ena Coach says its doors remain open and that it is committed to ensuring that Ondieki gets everything he is legally entitled to. Mogire urged him to continue cooperating so that the process can be completed fairly and quickly.
