Angela Chibalonza tragically died 15 years ago. The late celebrated gospel singer died 15 years ago in a grisly road accident along the Nakuru Nairobi Highway after performing at Egerton University.
The only person who survived out of the 3 people with Chibalonza that day was John Isaji, who doubled as her music director and the transport manager on that fateful day.
Isaji is now a pastor who leads a church in Juja called Hope and Restoration and was interviewed by Jeff Koinange and Nick Odhiambo on their Hot Breakfast show.
He explained that the events that led up to the accident had been really bizarre.
“Things changed some hours before the event. I got a call that the car that was supposed to take her to Egerton wasn’t available. So I had to go to pick her up from Nairobi at around 5 p.m and got there 2 hours later. By then, Angela had decided to cancel the event as she wouldn’t be able to make her early morning flight to Tanzania the next day.”
But things would get more complicated when he got to her place as the anti-burglary key for her home had gotten lost. They spent a whole hour just looking for it.
in a file photo
Pastor John Isaji in a file photo
Image: Courtesy
By then the students who had organised the event had been arrested. They were pleading with us to come as they had been locked up as people thought that they had been conned about her performing.
“So that was what pushed her to travel and perform even if it was to be for 5 minutes. Since the keys couldn’t be found they had to use a hacksaw to cut the padlock. We then drove to Egerton arriving at about midnight. Immediately we arrived those that had been arrested were released as they confirmed that Angela had come.”
Angela said that she would perform for 2 minutes but ended up performing for an hour. After her show, she prayed for some upcoming talents.
“We then left Egerton at some minutes to 3 a.m. She insisted that since I had been working hard the whole day I should seat in the back and sleep as the other driver drove the car. I said that I was conversant with the road and that I didn’t trust the other driver. So we kept on going.”
But Angela was adamant that John give the other driver the car to drive, something he did when they got to Gilgil.
John was still uneasy with the new driver, a fact he told late Nimrod Makori before going to sleep in the back left seat he had settled into.
“I wasn’t comfortable with the new driver as I had never seen him drive. So I made sure that I belted up and told Nimrod to watch the other driver keenly.”
An hour later John would be woken up by screams and shouts just moments before the fatal accident.
“In a split second, I saw an oncoming vehicle and there were traffic officers slowing us down. It was misty and foggy but I think our driver out of shock hit the trailer from behind with the car rolling 4 times according to the police report.”
The occupants of our car (which was a Nissan B15 that was going at about 130km/h) hit the trailer and came back into the car (due to inertia) with Angel who was seating in the front left ending up on top of John.
“Immediately everyone went silent in the car. I lost consciousness. We were in the wreck for more than an hour. That is why people said that there wasn’t any survivor of the accident.”
in a file photo
Angela Chibalonza in a file photo
Image: Courtesy
After he regained consciousness he started moving about and that’s when the public saw that there were signs of life in the car. They had assumed that everyone had passed on and didn’t even check for vital signs.
“They put me in a pick-up and rushed me to the Kijabe ICU where I lost consciousness and woke up after two days. I was told that I had fractured 4 codes in my spine which affected all my body functions. I couldn’t feel my legs and my hands.”
The doctors eventually did a 12-hour graft surgery on Isaji with the initial prognosis over whether he would walk being bad. But 6 months later, Isaji was able to walk again.
John said that he knew Angela had passed on while in the wreckage. “Her head had been crushed and she wasn’t responding to me talking to her. It was very traumatising.”
John maintained that he felt all the crazy happenings that had happened before the accident was a fore-warning for Angela that she shouldn’t have gone to the Egerton event.
“Honour that instinct that you get. God speaks in certain circumstances. Cause in this one God was speaking,” he told Nick.
“What did he miss most about one of Kenya’s best-ever musicians?” Jeff asked.
“Her worship, her performance, and her inspiration,” he finished.
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