- Nine people died following February 25 road accident that happened along Machakos – Kitui road within Yatta subcounty on February 25.
- Road Safety Association of Kenya chair David Kiarie said as an association, they won’t keep quiet as more Kenyans keep losing their lives through road accidents.
Image: HANDOUT
Road Safety Association of Kenya has called for the disbandment of National Transport Safety Authority over increased road accidents in the country.
Chairman David Kiarie claimed the Authority has failed to effectively execute its constitutional mandate resulting in increased road carnage.
Over the last 24 hours alone, at least eight people lost their lives in separate road accidents in various parts of the country.
They include four killed in a bus and Tuktuk accident in Ahero; two killed in Busia in accident involving a bus and oil tanker; one killed in an accident in Kitui and a mechanic who perished in Machakos following an accident involving multiple vehicles in Machakos.
“People are not going to die and we are silent. We are the people who formed NTSA. The time for asking NTSA to be disbanded is now because they are not doing their work,” Kiarie said.
He was accompanied by Machakos Health CEC Daniel Yumbya and Kitui health executive Ruth Koki in addressing the press at Machakos Level 5 hospital in Machakos county.
They had gone to monitor the health progress of survivors of the accident that occurred at Katangi.
Nine people died following the accident that happened along Machakos – Kitui road within Yatta subcounty on February 25.
“I urge the president, we must declare road carnage as a national disaster because people are killed on our roads in daily basis,” Kiarie said.
Kiarie said as an association, they won’t keep quiet as more Kenyans keep losing their lives through road accidents.
He claimed that most of the vehicles on the roads don’t go for inspection.
He said the speed governor of the vehicle the Katangi accident had been tampered with days before the accident.
“From February 2, this vehicle had its speed governor removed. Why didn’t they (NTSA) know?" he asked.
"The World Bank constructed technology to monitor these vehicles through tracking. Why didn’t they see that this vehicle had its speed governor deactivated? These people might not have died,” Kiarie said.
He claimed, but without proof, that a report showed the vehicle had its speed governor removed on February 2, 2024.
Yumbya said all the passengers onboard the ill-fated minibus have been accounted for.
“Twenty six men were rushed to this hospital; 25 of them arrived alive while one was brought to the hospital already dead,” Yumbya told reporters.
Sources told the Star that the man who was pronounced dead on arrival at Machakos Level 5 hospital was the vehicle’s driver.
Yumbya said doctors and nurses who were already out of hospital then were recalled and attended to the accident survivors.
He said in total, 35 victims were taken to the facility.
They included six women and three children who were rushed to the same facility from the accident scene.
Six were treated and discharged.
Yumbya said one patient was referred to Coptic hospital in Nairobi while another to Nairobi West hospital on their own request.
Another one was referred to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) for spinal injury treatment.
“We thank all who have participated in the recuperation exercise,” Yumbya said.
Koki said all the victims who died alongside those who sustained injuries were from Kitui County.
“The vehicle was from Nzombe in Kitui and was headed to Nairobi during the accident incident.”
Koki said they would follow up on those who had been referred to hospitals in Nairobi.
She thanked Governor Wavinya Ndeti for efforts her administration made to rescue the victims and rush them to hospitals through prompt response.