You are to blame for road c*****s, CS tells Kenyans

Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has dismissed claims his officers are to blame for the rising cases of road accidents that have claimed hundreds of people in the last three months.

He said all Kenyans have a responsibility to observe traffic rules and asked the public to review their role in averting the accidents.

“It has to be everyone’s concern. It’s sad that in the last three months alone, we have seen 470 pedestrians, 105 pillion passengers and 300 riders die because of recklessness on our roads,” he said at Transcom House on Tuesday night.

Instead, Murkomen told the public to direct their fury to the Traffic police department and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), saying that both agencies are responsible for road safety.

“So many people are obsessed with the Transport Cabinet Secretary, every time anything happens, they ask, where is the minister? People even enter into an overloaded vehicle and they take videos and pictures and ask, where is Murkomen? He has failed. Murkomen has failed,” CS Murkomen scoffed.

Enforcement of rules

He went on: “But he himself is inside a bus that is overloaded and he thinks he has not failed. So I want us to now focus on engaging the institutions charged with enforcement of rules, the traffic police department and the NTSA. Forget about Murkomen. Turn your cameras (media) on the citizens.”

Murkomen said that he sits at the end of the chain of government officials dealing with road accidents menace before a problem is flagged for his attention.

“Of course, the buck stops here (Murkomen’s office) when it comes to regulating transport matters and with my Interior (CS Kithure Kindiki) colleague when it comes to enforcement. But you should not be looking for someone to blame, you should be looking for somebody to resolve your problem,” he said.

Murkomen urged religious leaders to help the government to educate their congregants on road safety rather than criticizing him.

“I also saw the church ministers asking, where is the minister? If there is somebody who is more effective than the CS, it is the church minister, who preaches to people every Sunday. Please help us these people to get saved and follow the narrow traffic path by obeying traffic rules,” the CS said.

Retesting of drivers

He added: “These things are not to be done for me, or in the name of the minister, or for the glory of the Cabinet Secretary, it’s for posterity and for the good of our country. I urge all of us to work together to support each other to achieve this objective.”

The CS spoke on Tuesday night during a joint press conference with the Interior ministry officials led by Principal Secretary, Raymond Omollo, Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome and the NTSA director General George Njau.

He also announced a raft of measures that his ministry will be rolling out in the coming weeks to curb road carnage. “We are going to roll out retesting of drivers soon, including checking their medical background as one of the measures we intend to undertake to improve road safety,” he said.

Murkomen has ordered all learning institutions to present their vehicles for inspection by May 1, 2024 to assess their mechanical soundness and whether the speed limiters installed on them are functional.

Additionally, school vehicles carrying children are restricted to operate between 6am and 7pm.

“Some of the vehicles transporting our children are very old. They have finished their work as matatu and now they are on the road. I also request parents not to accept their children to be carried using these unroadworthy vehicles given that they are charged transport fees,” he emphasized.

On speed governors, the government is calling for immediate compliance with KS 2295 – 2018 on maximum road speed limiters for motor vehicles to ensure speed limiters fitted on PSVs and commercial vehicles are functional, limiting speed, storing data, transmitting speed data every five seconds and onboarded onto the NTSA Intelligent Road Safety Management System (IRSMS)

“All institutions and companies are required to present their vehicles for compliance checks with the relevant speed limiter vendors in 14 days, failing which all NTSA-issued licences will be invalidated.

"All PSVs (7-seater and above) and commercial vehicles with a tare weight of 3,048kg and above will be presented for compliance checks with the relevant speed limiter vendors within 30 days, failing which all NTSA-issued licences will be rendered invalid,” CS said.

The police and NTSA will heighten night enforcement and random checks along major highways, with a focus on blackspots to ensure that stalled vehicles are removed from roads at the cost of owners.