EACC sleuths to join Michuki rules crackdown undercover
What you need to know:
- The NTSA said the sleuths will join the authority, traffic police and other State agencies in sustaining the crackdown especially as the festive season sets in.
- Road accidents have been on the rise this year and have killed 8,000 people in the last three years.
Officers of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption (EACC) will be involved in the renewed enforcement of "Michuki rules" for road safety.
Francis Meja, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) director-general, said the sleuths will join the authority, traffic police and other State agencies in sustaining the crackdown especially as the festive season sets in.
UNDER COVER
The goal is to curb road carnage, as the latest statistics by the NTSA show that at least 2,214 people have died in road accidents since January.
The EACC officers will work undercover.
“All the agencies involved will step up surveillance, especially on major roads and blackspots, to ensure motorists adhere to safety rules. We will not relent,” Mr Meja said.
Rift Valley Traffic Commandant Zero Arome and Nakuru County Commissioner Joshua Nkanatha on Monday praised the NTSA for the move, saying EACC officials will ensure the exercise is clean and that all those arrested are taken to court.
At least 11,231 Kenyans were arrested between Monday and Friday as police enforced a government directive for strict compliance with traffic laws, a Sunday Nation analysis shows.
As a result, the government collected millions of shillings fines from various traffic offenders across the country in the intensified inspections.
Regional data from various traffic courts and police sources indicates that in the first week of the crackdown, 1,200 people were arrested in Nairobi; 5,600 in Central; 2,389 in Nyanza and 2,402 in Western.
RUTHLESSNESS
Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia and his Interior counterpart Fred Matiang'i said the rules, introduced by the no-nonsense powerful Cabinet minister John Michuki in 2003, will be enforced with more ruthlessness and discipline.
Mr Michuki died in 2012.
Road accidents have been on the rise this year and have killed 8,000 people in the last three years.
Just last month, 58 people were killed in a horrific accident involving a bus in western Kenya.
The day was marked in Sachangwan, on Nakuru-Eldoret road, where more than 130 people perished in an oil tanker explosion eight years ago.
