NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 19 — Operators under the Long Distance Drivers and Conductors Association (LoDDCA) have called for leadership changes at the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) over the failure to implement reforms.
In a statement on Tuesday, hours after multiple road crashes across the country left at least eighteen people dead, the lobby termed NTSA leadership as incompetent.
LoDDCA faulted NTSA for failing to implement reforms agreed upon by a Multi-Agency Committee which proposed corrective measures to address road carnage.
The lobby also faulted silence by the Ministry of Roads and Transport.
“Furthermore, the Ministry of Transport convened a Multi-Agency Committee, which provided crucial recommendations aimed at addressing these pressing issues. Regrettably, there has been a notable absence of action from the ministry, including statements from the honorable Minister himself,” LoDDCA stated.
The lobby singled out effective enforcement of regulatory requirements as key to averting crash-related deaths on Kenyan roads.
The statement followed an accident involving a Kenyatta University bus along the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway.
Eleven students died while forty-two others sustained injuries after the university bus heading back to Nairobi from a school trip in Mombasa rammed into a truck in Maungu a satellite town about 30km from Voi, Taita Taveta’s commercial capital.
In yet another accident, five people died and eighteen others sustained injuries following a collision between a public service vehicle and a tractor in Bomet.
Police said the accident occurred along the Olonguruone-Silibwet road in Bomet’s Mugango area.
In Wajir, a taxi driver died after crashing into a police vehicle.
Over the weekend, on Saturday, a teacher and student died after a school bus belonging to Kapsabet High School crashed along Kabarnet- Marigant Road.
