Duo pays K18,000 and 22 pigs in compo

TWO men from Maia village in Southern Highlands’ Pangia district, who escaped a fatal road accident, paid 22 pigs and K18,000 as compensation to the relatives of a woman  killed in a taxi they were all travelling in.
The compensation, paid last Friday in Pangia, was described as the first of its kind in the Highlands region where people not responsible for the death were told to pay compensation in order to restore peace within the community.
Four men and a woman from Pangia were involved in an accident on June 13 at the Poreporena Highway at Hohola which resulted in a woman and man killed, one seriously injured and two others escaped unhurt.
Pangia district affairs officer Nixon Kanema who co-ordinated the compensation ceremony last Saturday said according to records, the taxi was hired from BK taxi service by the woman identified as Mori Wi from Poloko village, Pangia.
He said the record also showed a man by the name of Robert Duku was the driver but he was not among the group involved in the accident.
Kanema said the driver of the taxi had not been identified.
He said back in Pangia, the relatives of the two dead people had demanded compensation from the two Maia men for escaping unhurt.
He said he conducted the first peace mediation meeting on June 30 and the compensation was paid last Friday.
Kanema said in October, the Maia people would also pay compensation to the relatives of a man from Morea village near Pangia station who was also killed in the accident.
He said the relatives of the man did not demand any compensation for another man who was seriously injured.
He said the Maia people agreed to pay compensation to the relatives of the two dead people in order to maintain peace and harmony in the district.