Ministry only involved in transport policy formulation

Published on December 12, 2007, 12:00 am Daily Nation
By Amos Kareithi

Transport minister, Mr Ali Chirau Mwakwere, has told off critics accusing the ministry of failing to curb the escalating number of road accidents.
Mwakwere was angered by suggestions that he had slept on the job and that his ministry was ineffective in arresting the road accidents, whose rates have now reached alarming levels.
"Whenever those accusing me of failing to act , speak, I pity them. They are like students who will never learn. I have tried to explain that my ministry does not run the roads or enforce traffic laws, but they won’t listen," said Mwakwere.
He likened the Central Organisation for Trade Union Secretary General, Mr Francis Atwoli, to a student who would never grasp anything in class.
The Press quoted the trade unionist blaming the Ministry of Transport for its alleged inability to curb the road menace. While reacting to a round of nationwide condemnation and outrage over the re-emergence of road carnage, the minister said his ministry was only involved in policy formulation and had nothing to do with enforcement.
"We do not control the roads nor do we enforce the rules. Other ministries do this. It is the police who should crack the whip on errant drivers," he said. He said the root cause of accidents on Kenyan roads was lack of discipline among drivers and other road users’ disregard of the law.
The minister added that most of the accidents could be avoided if drivers observed traffic rules and the Highway Code.
The country has crawled back to the dark days when road carnage and anarchy were synonymous with Kenya roads.
Last weekend more than 30 people perished in just 12 hours in several smash-ups. Mwakwere’s predecessor, Mr John Michuki, revolutionalised the matatu sub-sector.
Michuki introduced a set of stringent rules that dramatically checked road accidents and restored sanity on the roads.