Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has drawn a stark comparison between the death toll resulting from recent road accidents in the country and that recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2021.
Kindiki said Tuesday that the severity of road traffic accidents in the country is rivaling epidemics in terms of fatalities, terming it a “huge problem.”
He cited three traffic accidents that occurred Monday in different parts of the country that led to the deaths of more than 18 people, terming the loss of lives as alarming.
The Interior CS noted that annually, the country suffers approximately 4,000 fatalities from road accidents, with thousands sustaining serious physical injuries.
“Between 2020 and 2022, we had COVID-19, a terrible epidemic. In those 2 years, the people who died out of COVID-19 were 4,600, yet in one year alone, 4000 people are dying out of traffic accidents, meaning this problem of road traffic accidents is worse off than even serious epidemics like Covid-19,” Kindiki said.
He was speaking when he presided over the commissioning of the Kisumu West Sub-County headquarters in Kisumu.
To address the scourge of road accidents, Kindiki disclosed that he held discussions with Transport Kipchumba Murkomen.
The Interior CS added that the National Police Service Traffic Department and the National Transport Safety Agency (NTSA) in conjunction with other agencies, will work together towards finding a lasting solution to the challenge.
“Together, we must come up with a program to reign in on the problem of road traffic, enforce the law and make sure that we bring down the numbers of our people that we are losing every year through road traffic accidents,”
He appealed to motorists, drivers, boda riders, and motor vehicle owners to work together with the government to prevent further loss of life.
The Interior CS warned that going forward, the government will take stringent action against any individual flouting road traffic regulations.
“When we commence this crackdown, I don’t want to hear complaints from the boda boda riders or anyone that we are out to get them. We will be merciless on everyone—drivers, boda boda riders, pedestrians, motor vehicle owners, enforcement officials, all of us must work together so that we can bring down this problem,” he warned.
He urged traffic police and other security agencies to uphold patriotism by ensuring strict adherence to traffic rules.
“If you are a law enforcement officer, and instead of booking someone who has broken traffic laws, you ask them to give them, I don’t know, how much money, and then the offense disappears, you are also part if this criminal organization that is hurting our people. Let us [security agents] desist from this kind of behavior,” he said.