The Matatu Owners Association has announced that it will partner with the government and establish training schools for drivers across the country in latest bid to curbing road accidents.
MOA President Albert Karakacha said the association has identified places where the schools can be started.
Karakacha said Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nyeri are some of the counties identified so far.
“If we can be able to establish training schools in those counties, we will bring down the road carnage up to 60 per cent because we believe that once we train the drivers, the issue of accidents will go down completely,” Karakacha said in an interview with the Star.
The World Health Organization says between 5,000 and 15,000 lives are lost on the roads every year.
Kenyan authorities, however, peg the figure at about 3,000.
According to the state, the annual economic cost of road crashes is about three to five per cent of GDP or Sh350 billion
The 2023 Kenya Demographic Health Survey shows that at least 4,690 people lost their lives on Kenyan roads in 2022.
The year recorded 21,757 road accident casualties, representing a 5.5 per cent increase from the 20,625 deaths reported in 2021.
The number of those who lost their lives in road crashes in 2021 was 4,579.
The number of victims who sustained serious injuries in 2022 was 9,935, a decrease from the 10,050 who were critically injured in 2021.
The number of those who sustained slight injuries in 2022 rose by 1,136 to 7,132 from 5,996 reported in 2021.
However, there was a slight decrease in the number of reported road accidents from 10,210 in 2021 to 9,976 in 2022.
The road crash victims were categorised as pedestrians, drivers, passengers, pillion passengers, pedal cyclists and motorcyclists.
Pedestrians accounted for the highest fatalities at 1,682 while motorcyclists were 1,254.
Drivers were 426, passengers (822), pillion passengers (445) and pedal cyclists (61).
Passenger casualties increased from 7,586 victims in 2021 to 9,161 in 2022, a percentage increase of 20.8.
Karakacha said there will be returns on investments should road carnages be tamed.
On the sky rocketing fuel prices, Karakacha said the association is of a view that the state should come up with a way of putting in subsidy for the sector.
“It is easier to deal with the matatu sector through the Matatu Owners Association and come up with a subsidy the way they have done it in agriculture. From there, we will be able to see how to bring down the issue of bus fare,” he said.
Karakacha said the matatu owners will pursue the state for the sector to have subsidies just like other sectors.
Prices of fuel have for the first time in history risen by as high as Sh20 per litre with the big jump expected to have far-reaching consequences to households.
In the recent review, the price of petrol is up by almost Sh17 per litre while that of diesel has increased by about Sh21.32 per litre.
Karakacha said the state can also help to regulate the issue of bank interest rates saying the banks are charging them very high rates.
“If the interest rates can go down, it will help the matatu people to invest and then we will be able to bring down some of the costs affecting mwananchi,” he said.
On insurance, Karakacha said the association has a company called Invesco Assurance.
“We have had a meeting by our members countrywide who agreed to invest in Invesco Assurance Company. The PSV Insurance is up to Sh15 billion a year and we believe that money should be circulating through PSV sector not to other people. If we go that direction, it will be easier for us to bring the claims down because we have come up with a plan on how to devolve issue of claims,” Karakacha said.
He said the issue of claims can be done at the county level, thereby employing more youth in the industry through agents.
