Richard Chacha was in 2012 involved in a road accident along the Mai Mahiu-Narok highway which left him crippled from the waist downwards.
Chacha had a flourishing career until the vehicle he was travelled in alongside fellow NTV editor Fred Karema and CCTV editor Emmanuel Tallam rolled several times.
He moved to NTV from KBC in 2004 and worked there as a reporter until the accident in 2012 affected his work
“It was bad. Tragic. I knew my dreams had been shattered in a flash. I had just been promoted to political affairs editor and everything was falling into place. The crash was sudden and I still can’t believe I can remember nothing.
“I lost consciousness and woke up in hospital. It’s family and friends who told me most of what happened. I was hospitalised at Nairobi Hospital for three months and later flown to India for further treatment,” Chacha said in a past interview with Standard.
The veteran journalist was lucky because his former employer NTV played a big role in his recovery in as far as helping him with medical bills is concerned.
Chacha’s medical cover limit was only Ksh500,000. His medical bill amounted to around Ksh8.5 million for the three months that he was at Nairobi Hospital. Thankfully, NTV cleared the bill.
The veteran journalist made at least four trips to India for further treatment after friends contributed to support him.
However, Chacha didn’t fully recover his motor skills. Motor skills are the muscle movements we use in our everyday lives. They allow us to do everything from walking and running, to brushing our teeth.
He tried to get back to his old self, though it wasn’t easy. He was the political affairs editor for NTV and operated mostly from Parliament building. The job became too much of a strain for him because it involved a lot of movements and he crippled from the waist downwards.
Rumors emerged in 2015 that Nation Media Group (NMG) had fired Richard Chacha because he was crippled and as such he couldn’t discharge his duties diligently.
However, Chacha strongly denied the rumors insisting that NMG was very supportive of him before and after the accident.
“Those were just rumours. NMG invested a lot in me and supported me. To date, I can always go back to NMG and I will always be welcome. I visit whenever I can because they regard me highly. From the people at the gate to the highest office, they always make me feel welcome,” Chacha said in a past interview.
He resigned from NTV himself without any outside force.
“It was my conscience. I felt I wasn’t really giving back to my satisfaction. Further, I needed to take a rest and chart my future. I felt that I needed to go back to the drawing board, concentrate on my therapy as I determined my future.”
In November 2017, Mombasa governor Hassan Joho hired Richard Chacha as Director of Communications and Public Relations at Mombasa County.
The job was less strenuous and suited him. Fast forward to March 2022, Chacha reflected on the accident that left him crippled while speaking during an investigation with BBC Eye Africa on how corrupt dealings play a big role in Kenya’s rising death toll from road accidents.
“It is not the absence of laws that is the problem. It is the implementation of those laws. We cannot continue keeping quiet without knowing even your own life could be on the line,” Chacha said.
