“Leave that job to the police and if they fail, we will deal with them,” he stated/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 25 – Starehe Member of Parliament Maina Kamanda is calling on the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to focus more on policy formulation rather than enforcement of traffic rules along the roads.
Kamanda who is the Chairman of the National Assembly Transport Committee stated that the Authority is stretched thin in terms of resources and this causes it to be in effective.
“When there is an accident, people talk about the NTSA because your officers are seen on the road. Remove them because you cannot be the one making laws and enforcing them. That is the reason why you are being condemned. Leave that job to the police and if they fail, we will deal with them,” he stated.
He pointed out that NTSA should leave the enforcement of traffic regulations to policemen since they have a broader reach.
“The other thing that will happen later is that the police will now go slow on their job and say the NTSA have their own special people. We also know even if you are given 200 policemen, they are not enough throughout the whole country,” he said.
NTSA Chairman Lee Kinyanjui stated that NTSA has achieved more in the short period it has been in office but emphasised the need for more resources to be allocated to it.
“If you are talking of resources, we may want more resources today, tomorrow and the other day but in reality three years ago, we were able to bring down the number of accidents,” he stated.
“We had fewer people and less resources than we have today and I think that there will be no time in this country when a department will have all the resources that it needs so our approach is to do the best with what we have.”
The two were speaking during a forum on draft regulations set to govern the operations of commercial service vehicles.
Kamanda’s sentiments came even as NTSA commenced a countrywide crackdown on motorists flouting traffic regulations.
The initiative to be done in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport and the National Police Service targets all categories of motorists including private vehicles, government, PSV, heavy commercial vehicles and motor cycles.
NTSA also directed all PSV Saccos and companies to ensure that all their drivers and conductors wear their respective uniforms as prescribed in the Traffic Act or face prosecution.
Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet has assured Kenyans that the crackdown will be sustained so as to stem rising fatalities.
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