The growing number of road accidents has forced the government to order the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) back on the Kenyan roads.
This comes nine months after President Kenyatta ordered all NTSA officers withdrawn from Kenyans roads and their duties taken over by traffic cops.
Last week, the Interior Ministry issued a circular directing NTSA to join the traffic police department in a new operation aimed at restoring sanity on the roads, according to Daily Nation.
Data by NTSA shows that the total number of deaths as a result of road carnage grew by about 15 percent since last year. 2,326 victims are reported to have died on Kenyan roads in the past 12 months.
This week NTSA officers were deployed to carry out impromptu inspections on all motor vehicles along Nyeri-Nairobi Highway, as reported Daily Nation.
The new directive requires NTSA to only conduct checks on vehicles and leave all enforcement work to traffic police.
“Our job will only be to guide the police on the offenses and traffic malpractices to look out for. We cannot arrest or order a vehicle to stop. NTSA is only there to support,” an NTSA official who sought anonymity told Daily Nation.
NTSA officials were facing accusations of corruption and impunity in the enforcement of their duties, forcing President Kenyatta to order their withdrawal from the roads in January this year.
Following the move, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i disbanded NTSA board to pave way for the appointment of new members in a bid to save the agency’s tainted reputation.
