Expect NTSA Back Manning Roads — Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen

Transport Cabinet Secretary Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen on Tuesday announced the return of National Transport and Safety Authority officials on Kenyan roads.

The CS said the decision was made after deliberations with Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki.

The directive will reverse an order issued by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018 which eliminated NTSA officials on Kenyan roads.

“You will be seeing a return of the NTSA working with traffic police to enforce traffic safety on our roads as soon as possible,” Murkomen said in a statement on Tuesday.

He however did not specify when the decision will be operationalised.

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Murkomen stated that the decision was made after having consultations with Interior CS Kithure Kindiki.

“We are going to establish a mechanism where the previous directive to remove NTSA from enforcement will be vacated,” Murkomen said.

Murkomen noted that his ministry together with the Interior will put in place a collaborative regime between the NTSA and the National Police Service for a more efficient enforcement

Murkomen said that the NTSA officers will now collaborate with the traffic police.

This was among the directives issued by the CS after a grisly road accident occurred along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway on Monday involving a Kenyatta University bus and a trailer.

11 students from Kenyatta University lost their lives in the accident.

The students were heading to Mombasa for an academic trip.

42 others sustained injuries, with some now in critical condition.

A series of devastating road accidents have rocked Kenya, claiming the lives of several individuals and leaving many others injured.

In another recent incident, five people were Monday killed in a road accident along Olonguruone-Silibwet Road in Bomet.

The accident involving a matatu and a tractor left 18 injured.

According to NTSA, from January to February 2024, road accidents across the country have claimed 649 lives.

The statistics are an increase compared to the 623 recorded during the same period in 2023.

On Tuesday, Interior CS Kindiki announced the immediate commencement of a nationwide crackdown to curb road accidents.

The CS who spoke in Kisumu said the crackdown will target all unroadworthy vehicles (private, public, institutional), drivers, riders and pedestrians.

The CS directed law enforcement agencies across the country to immediately develop and implement a nationwide program for Traffic Law enforcement to stem the devastating tide of deaths and injuries arising from road traffic accidents.

“We must obey traffic rules, we must all work together and clean our roads from all manner of rogue road users who are careless,” Kindiki said.

Kenya lacks a comprehensive policy to stem the upsurge of road accidents. This has driven many commentators to write off Murkomen’s directive as a knee-jack reaction that will not achieve anything.