Ex-County Driver Sues Governor in Ksh 100M Crash Compensation Fraud

Former driver Davis Mburu Karanja from Murang’a County has sued Governor Irungu Kang’ata for using his name without permission in a Senate petition.
The petition concerned the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines plane crash. In June 2019, when Kang’ata was a senator, he filed a petition seeking support for the crash victims’ families. The crash killed 157 people, including 32 Kenyans.
Karanja claims his name, along with those of seven other former employees, was included in the petition. He stated that he had no family or social connection to anyone on the plane and only discovered his name had been used in October 2024.
“I had no involvement in the crash, nor any association with its victims, and I never authorised anyone to include my name in such a petition,” Karanja said in a sworn statement.
According to court records, Kang’ata told the court he knew the people listed in the petition and he had advised them to file it because he had a conflict of interest.
However, Karanja says this is not true,arguing that all the people listed were former staff membersof Kang’ata and had no real link to the crash.
Karanja’s lawsuit states that Kang’ata “abused his position” by using their names as if they were relatives of the people who died.
Mburu’s legal team has named Governor Kang’ata as the first respondent. The Senate of the Republic of Kenya and the Attorney General are also listed as respondents, while Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing International Corporation are named as interested parties due to the international nature of the case.
Through his lawyer, Soyinka Lempaa, Mburu cites violations of his constitutional rights under Articles 28 (human dignity), 33 (freedom of expression), 35 (access to information) and 47 (fair administrative action).
In February 2025, Mburu’s lawyers wrote to Kang’ata seeking clarification. Instead of responding, Kang’ata’s legal team issued a demand letter accusing them of defamation, an action Mburu views as intimidation.
The matter was subsequently taken to the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ), which wrote to the Senate requesting an explanation. In November 2024, the Clerk of the Senate confirmed in writing that Mburu’s name had been included by mistake, without proper verification or consent.
Mburu further alleges that after he began seeking answers, he was harassed and targeted with political retaliation. He claimed that Kang’ata instigated a criminal complaint that led to his arrest and arraignment at the Thika Law Courts, wherepolice unsuccessfully sought a 14-day detention order.
Mburu is now seeking a court order to stop the Senate and Kang’ata from using or mentioning his name in connection with the petition. He is also demanding the release of all related documents and a formal explanation of how his and others’ names were included without consent.
High Court Judge Lawrence Mugambi has directed that Kang’ata and the Senate be served within seven days and file their responses within 14 days.