Concerns about the safety of a small plane that transported Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna have ignited a heated discussion on social media.
Security analyst Kiyo Nganga shared a photo of Sifuna disembarking from a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan registered 5Y-LJM at Ithookwe Airstrip in Kitui. Upon investigating, Nganga discovered that the same aircraft was involved in a runway excursion in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo, in July 2025. The incident resulted in minor injuries to two passengers and significant damage to the plane, including a bent nose landing gear and damage to the left wing, attributed to mechanical failure.
Nganga further highlighted that since 2020, over 13 Cessna-related incidents have been documented in Kenya alone. These include:
- A mid-air collision over Nairobi National Park in March 2024 that killed two people.
- A crash onto the Malindi-Mombasa highway in January 2025, which claimed three lives on the ground.
- An October 2025 crash near Kwale involving a Mombasa Air Safari flight, where all 11 passengers aboard died.
His database also covers more than 20 aviation incidents involving Cessna aircraft across East and Central Africa over the past six years.
In response, trained pilot Khalif Kairo strongly refuted the concerns, emphasizing Cessna’s global reputation. He cited the aircraft’s low annual accident rate of 0.0057% and argued that traveling by road in Kenya poses a far greater risk than flying in such planes.
The exchange sparked further debate among Kenyans on X, with some users backing Nganga’s data as verifiable, while others compared the statistics to accident rates in public service vehicles.
Separately, Senator Sifuna has disclosed that he is cautious about his diet while traveling, following advice to avoid accepting food and drinks from unfamiliar sources.
