By SHAMLAL PURI in London,
Friday, August 30th 2013
Kenyans living in the UK want
urgent government action to stop carnage on the country’s roads.Scores of
Kenyans are responding to an international petition launched by Leeds-based
Kenyan Joyce Nganga demanding the authorities in Nairobi to work towards
building better PSV’s to save lives.
“All PSVs should have standard
roll cages installed and regulated by an independent body of engineers,” she
said.
Miss Nganga underscored the
importance of preventing the unnecessary loss of human life saying “it is
nothing less than a threat to national security”.
“With the continuous number of
people dying in these carnages, the nation is suffering from a waste of human
resources that we have invested in through education, entrepreneurship and
future problem solvers, not to mention the loss of our basic social structure –
the family,” Nganga said.
“These accidents are mobile
guillotines that are not only expensive to our country but also have
long-lasting effects on families of victims who receive little or no counselling.”
She said with better quality
PSVs, insurance companies will have to pay less in compensation.
London-based Kenyan Cllr
Elizabeth Kangethe said in a message, “My sincere condolences to the families
of the 41 people who perished in a road accident in Narok Kenya and the 33
others still nursing injuries. My thoughts
and prayers.”
Joe Mwai, a Kenyan who has lived
in the UK for 22 years and now spends time between Kenya and UK, says he is
appalled by the increasing number of bus and matatu accidents on Kenya’s roads
and asked the government to put in place measures to prevent such loss of life.
“I believe there is something
deeply wrong with our standards of assembling vehicle bodies locally not to
mention the blame on drivers for speeding their vehicles,” Mwai said.
Another Kenyan blamed corrupt
traffic police officers for the scourge.
No comments:
Post a Comment