SACCOs allowing defective public service vehicles and non-compliant crew to operate, risk deregistration and prosecution as a multi-agency led crackdown is expected to be stemmed up beginning tomorrow.
The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) Director General Francis Meja says the focus of the crackdown will shift to SACCOS to which impounded vehicles are attached in a move aimed at making SACCOS responsible entities.
Meja says the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, NTSA and traffic police will jointly sustain the onslaught against noncompliance in the matatu sector to scale down carnage on the roads.
Speaking today during the World Remembrance day for victims of road crashes at Sachang`wan in Molo, Meja said the bid to restore sanity on roads must be a collaborative undertaking.
At the highly emotive event observed at the country`s most notorious black spot in recent years, matters road safety took prominence as calls for collective vigilance against road accidents intensified.
His warning and commemoration of the victims of road accidents come against a backdrop of grim statistics from NTSA indicating that as at October 15 this year, the authority recorded 2, 453 fatalities, 3, 607 fatal injuries and 4,155 slight injuries- figures the authority describes as unsettling compared to what it recorded last year.
The NTSA Vice Chairperson Bright Oywaywa noted most of the accidents recorded involved youth and have since cost the country Sh.310 billion which is an equivalent of 5 per cent of her Gross Domestic Product.
n his part Nakuru County Commissioner Joshua Nkanatha directed security agencies in the County to step up surveillance on seven black spots on Nakuru-Eldoret Highway over the next three months.
The commissioner exuded optimism at the entry of EACC saying the anti-graft agency working undercover will be significant in unearthing attempts of compromising the exercise.
The Kenya National Highways and Bridges Authority (KENHA) is currently expanding the Nakuru-Eldoret Highway at a cost of Sh 500 million to elevate it to a dual carriage facility, a move anticipated to scale down accidents on the 16 kilometres stretch.
Nakuru Deputy Governor Eric Korir urged KENHA to expand coverage of elaborate road signage along the highway to mitigate accidents.
By Emily Kadzo
