Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka has faulted the government over its methods of managing crises that he says have not borne fruit.
Speaking on Citizen TV’s Daybreak show, Senator Onyonka said that the now-alarming accident cases in the nation could be easily dealt with if there were appropriate structures in place.
He blamed Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen for what he termed as casual public pronouncements whenever accidents occur, which are never implemented.
“He wants the accidents to stop by miracles. They will not stop, the reason is we don’t have a strategy in terms of what we are going to do with the public transport,” Onyonka noted.
“A driver will leave Kisumu for example to Nairobi, he gets to Nairobi and finds the colleague who was to take over from him is not there. He is told to drive back to Kisumu another 8 hours. Somebody drives for 22 hours carrying passengers on the highway and you expect nothing to happen.”
The legislator propounded that the government can borrow new operational mechanisms from other nations to streamline the transport sector which he believes will eventually help tame fatal accidents.
“You can do that by introducing technology where a driver who comes and is taking over a car can sign in and the gadget is in the car so that you know if he has driven for 18 hours he will not be allowed to get into that vehicle. That is what the Rwandan government has done,” he said.
“We just need to be a bit more careful and more engaged in solving the problems of our country. We are just casual we treat an emergency on that particular day and we are done.”
Tigania West MP John Kanyuithia rebutted Onyonka’s sentiments saying that it is unfair to put the government to task when some accidents are a result of a driver’s ignorance.
He argued that the road safety authorities have been vigilant in ensuring that road safety apparatus have been erected on Kenyan roads.
“There is a law that stipulates that you must give signages at a distance where people will be able to prepare themselves in the event they are in danger. There is also the disobedient part of it,” said Kanyuithia.
“I think KeNHA has tried, they have been very keen in marking the roads and showing the dangerous parts of the roads and even put bumps on the highways.”
As of April 1 to today, Tuesday, April 9, about 37 people have died from road accidents and about 36 have been left injured.
CS Murkomen has said he should not be blamed for the accidents, reiterating that dealing with excessive loss of lives through road accidents needs collective responsibility from all Kenyans.
He has said motorists do not obey traffic rules, hence the increase in road carnage, adding that technological solutions and instant fines shall soon be in place to serve as a deterrence.
