Tame rising deaths on Kenyan roads, Uhuru tells CS Matiang’i

President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed the Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i to take charge and tame the rising number of road crashes.

Speaking during the Mashujaa Day celebrations in Kakamega on October 20, 2018, the President said the number of crashes, which have so far claimed the lives of more than 2,600 this year alone, are worrying and ought to stop.

"Going forward, I direct the Ministry of Interior, together with the police leadership, to take every step to reverse this situation, especially in taking advantage of the new police reforms to deliver a noticeable improvement in the regulation of traffic," President Kenyatta said at the Bukhungu Stadium.

PASSENGERS

"Equally important, passengers and drivers must be more responsive to safety. If you are in a matatu being driven recklessly, speak up as a group and refuse [to have] your lives and those of other road-users to be endangered," the President said.

The President spoke on a day meant to celebrate heroes and heroines, but he was addressing a crowd in a region that on Friday buried most of the 58 people who died in a road crash last week at Fort Ternan in Kericho.

The bus, operated by the Kakamega-based Western Cross Express Sacco, plunged into a ravine, initially killing 55 people and seriously injuring others.

More succumbed to injuries as they were being treated.

Dr Matiang'i had earlier last week admitted responsibility lay with him and vowed to rein in rogue drivers and their vehicles.