Another day, another tragedy more lives lost. Do Kenyans ever get tired of the shitty blame games during disasters?
A few months ago, we lost hundreds of people during the Solai Dam tragedy that claimed hundreds of lives.
We came to learn that the dam had been illegally build as it didn’t have the necessary approvals. As we speak, the persons who were supposed to be held accountable for murdering those poor villagers are still walking scot free maybe planning to execute another mass murder.
But it seems the Solai tragedy is long forgotten now as we are dealing with more dead people. This time a bus accident has claimed 55 lives. The accident happened in Kericho accident in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
And as usual, all the stakeholders in the transport sector have released statement trying to shift blame to the other party.
A statement from the Kenya Driving Schools Association questioned how the bus managed to pass police road blocks without being flagged down for overloading.
National Chairman John Mwatha also cited a reportedly expired certificate of insurance. According to Mwatha, it is possible that either the bus driver or his conductor must have parted with bribes to pass through police road blocks all the way from Nairobi.
He also accused the Sacco under which the bus is licensed of failing in its obligation to ensure the bus had a proper operating license and certificate of insurance.
The association boss regretted allegations that the driver may have fallen asleep on the wheel; he challenged Public Service Vehicle (PSV) saccos to ensure that they have shifts for drivers to prevent exhaustion.
Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet on the other hand hand has said that the owner of the killer bus will face action. Boinnet further said action will be extended to the sacco which the bus belongs.
President Kenyatta said that authorities are investigating the cause of the accident with the view of taking action.
We both know the action, will be to ban night travel, Matatu Owners will move to court challenging the ban. The government will then lift the ban and wait for another tragedy to happen before coming with condolence messages on Social media.
Statistics show that, at least five people die every day on our roads. The same statics indicate that at least one Matatu rolls after every two days. We only get to hear of such accidents when a prominent person dies or the accident turns catastrophic and kills everyone on board.
It is clear that, there’s more to road carnages and punishing Matatu owners won’t solve that. But our leaders want a REFERENDUM