Mumias East MP Peter Salasya has vowed to never step foot in a swimming pool ever again after he almost drowned in Juba, South Sudan last week.
The MP’s near-death experience happened during the 12th Inter-Parliamentary Games (IPG) which took place between November 25 and December 1.
Coordinated by the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), the games brought together Regional Assemblies and National Parliaments from the East African Community (EAC).
On Tuesday, November 29, after the day’s sporting activities, Salasya decided to take a dip in the pool to cool off.
Being his first time in a pool, the excitable first-time MP ignored a warning from a pool manager and ended up in the deep end.
“The manager told me not to proceed beyond the shallow end but my curiosity could not let me stay put. I could not see above the water, I could not breathe or shout or do anything. It was like; ‘Oh my God!’ today is the end of me,’ I discovered that you cannot just walk in the pool to the wall of the pool which is what I thought as I went in,” he said as quoted by Citizen.
Salasya said his ordeal lasted nearly four minutes; he was rescued by onlookers at a nearby massage parlour within the facility.
The two women who could not swim called a Sudanese man who got Salasya out of the pool.
“Were it not for the Ugandan and Kenyan ladies who rescued me, we would be speaking of something else today. Had it gone to something like seven minutes, it would have been tough for me. I was advised to take a rest. I will never swim again,” he said.
Salasya spoke after he had put up a Facebook post warning people who can’t swim not to partake in the activity.
“I was almost dead in a swimming pool, but I was rescued. I will never go back to a swimming pool. If you can’t swim, please don’t dare go into that thing. Today, Mumias East could be speaking of a by-election. I will continue serving God. It was by His grace I can see this day,” the post read.
As a result of the ordeal. Peter Salasya says he is planning to table a bill in Parliament seeking to introduce mandatory swimming classes for Kenyan learners.
“It seems like the best way forward. For things like swimming, the earlier you acquire the skill the better. For one’s safety and that of others as well. Those ladies were unable to jump into the water and save me until the Sudanese guy came in,” he said.
“In CBC, we can incorporate this skill in the curriculum because it will save the lives of many people. The unfortunate incident that took many Kenyan’s lives in Ukambani when their bus drowned, with swimming skills, who know how many people we could have saved?”
“I am going to push it in parliament, meet with the clerk of the Education committee to help me draft something on it and make it a motion so that swimming is mandatory for every school. I know it is expensive but we have to know that anything good must come at a cost,” the MP reasoned.
Salasya reiterated that he is done with swimming; “I am afraid, swimming pools and I are now like water and oil.”
The MP also clarified that the photos he published on Facebook where deacons prayed for him were from a prayer service he held for all the Form Four candidates in Mumias East last month.
“I just recalled that day (as he was composing the Facebook post). They prayed for me too and I thought; maybe these were the prayers that saved me last week,” he said.
