The obscure 50kph speed limit does not make sense in this day and age

One Dr Chris Murungaru can attest that during the time he served as one of the most powerful Cabinet ministers before outliving his usefulness to President Kibaki’s regime, there was hardly anything he did that I would agree with.

His was the classic profile of a fellow from nowhere who suddenly moves at a dizzying speed to unmatched power and wealth, and in the process starts throwing around his newfound weight with extreme degrees of hubris.

In hindsight, I must now acknowledge that Dr Murungaru, at least, was blessed with a modicum of common sense. This is in regard to the decision he made, as Transport minister, halting the enforcement of a 50kph speed limit in urban areas.

Some officials woke up one day in March 2005 and decided that a largely forgotten speed limit probably enacted when the Model T was not supposed to go faster than a horse-drawn carriage, must now be enforced.

Dr Murungaru looked at the practicality of enforcing an antiquated law, and promptly told the idle bureaucrats to look for more productive pursuits.

The amazing thing is that nearly a decade after he declared the speed limit redundant, but neglected to remove it from the Traffic laws, it’s been resuscitated.

MICHAEL KAMAU

I can applaud Mr Michael Kamau for some great things he has done as Cabinet Secretary for Transport. On road safety initiatives in particular, he has pushed hard to enforce order in an area where Kenya has about the highest death toll in the world.

He has had to fight entrenched mercantile interests in the trucking and public transport industry simply to introduce and enforce laws that will reduce the accident rates.

While fighting hard against the impunity that prevails in the sector, surely, Mr Kamau does not need to turn his attention to what should be a non-issue. Resources are being diverted from the real battle against murder on our roads, to enforce a traffic law that make no sense.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not one to encourage breaking the laws if you don’t agree with them. However, laws are made to serve society, and it must be recognised when they become obsolete.

The 50kph speed limit within urban boundaries in such a law. Speed limits are put there to ensure road safety. Exceeding that limit, even driving at half that speed, might be suicidal in certain environments such as in housing estates or parts of the city centre with high pedestrian traffic.

On the highways leading into or out of the city, however, that snail’s pace is not sedate and safe, but actually dangerous as it amounts to interference with the smooth flow of traffic.

Enforcement may be earning the Treasury millions in fines, but we must move away from the mindset where we create criminal offences as revenue generators.

This nuisance law enforced by the ministry, the traffic police and Mr Lee Kinyanyui’s National Transport and Safety Authority provides yet another example where institutions and the bureaucracy set out simply to throw their weight around. We still have too many people dying on our roads and must not shift our attentions to matters that will not help.
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A chip off the old block. That’s what came to mind last week when I heard President Uhuru Kenyatta direct choice insults at his political foes, presumably the opposition forces led Mr  Raila Odinga.

He accused them of going around licking backsides to win favour from donors, words that could have come out of the mouth of daddy.

President Jomo Kenyatta was the master of colourful and raunchy language employed with abandon in spats with one Jaramogi Odinga. His public speeches would be laced with “wanalamba-lamba matako ya wabeberu (They are licking the white-man’s buttocks)”.

And those were just the politer ones. The real put-downs, including liberal references to the ‘K’ word and people’s mothers, cannot be reproduced in a family newspaper.

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