Former Minister for Roads Franklin Bett has come to the defense of Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen over the surge in road accidents across the country.
Bett while speaking to the press on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, asked Kenyans to stop putting blames on Murkomen, citing other reasons responsible for the rise in the number of accidents.
“As a former Minister for roads I keep on hearing blames being heaped on the Minister for roads Mr Murkomen. I want to indicate we are directing our anger on the wrong person,” said Bett.
The former minister asked Kenyans to stop running away from the reality that most motorists have bad driving manners.
He questioned how the CS for roads was to be blamed yet most road users and especially drivers were reckless.
Additionally, he noted that the accidents were to be blamed on most motorists not being cautious on the roads and not following traffic rules.
“The accident that happened in Kericho yesterday had nothing to do with Murkomen but it has everything to do with the person behind the steering wheel of the vehicle,” he added.
Also Read: Witness Reveals How Passenger Pressured Driver to Speed Before Accident
While making a comparison to other countries, Bett noted that accidents happening in Australia, Europe and America were few because motorists adhere to traffic rules.
Bett on Rise in Accidents
The former Minister further reminisced of how his ministry recorded a surge in accidents every time a road was tarmacked.
“As the Minister for roads, I was at one time pained that at any time we put on a tarmac on a road that was previously murram, the number of accidents would tremendously rise,” he said.
Similarly, Bett noted that passengers boarding Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) that were already full were also to be blamed.
The former CS called for sanity among road users asking Kenyans to put the blame where it squarely belongs.
Bett who is also a former Member of Parliament worked as the Minister for roads under late former President Mwai Kibaki and oversaw rapid expansion of roads infrastructure in all parts of the country. Including the Thika Superhighway.
His remarks come days after CS Murkomen reiterated that dealing with excessive loss of lives through road accidents needed collective responsibility from all Kenyans.
Murkomen on Accidents
The CS while addressing congregants at a church service on April 7, said that the trend has been in existence since independence.
Also Read: Murkomen Announces New Technology for School Buses to Reduce Accidents
While acknowledging that a serious strategy to curb deaths is yet to be realized since independence, Murkomen argued that the national catastrophe must not be blamed on his term in office.
He further said that lack of money to support traffic police officers and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) was a major contributor to the menace.
At the same time, the CS argued that motorists do not obey traffic rules, hence the increase in road crashes throughout the country.
According to Murkomen, technological solutions and instant fines would soon be enacted to serve as a deterrence.
Data from NTSA revealed that road accidents across the country have claimed at least 1,189 lives since the beginning of the year to April 1, 2024.
According to the data, this was an increase compared to the same period in 2023 where deaths from crashes stood at 1,129.
At the same time NTSA revealed that 7,198 Kenyans have been involved in road accidents, where 3,316 were seriously injured and 2,693 suffered from minor injuries.
