Road Deaths Now Worse Than Covid, Kindiki Raises Alarm

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has expressed concern about the upsurge of road carnage in the country and now wants a national conversation on the same.

The Cabinet Secretary who was speaking in Kisumu Tuesday noted that in the last three months alone, the country has lost one thousand lives and called for concerted efforts to tame the menace before it gets out of hand, noting that the country loses around 4,000 people annually.

“We had Covid-19, a terrible epidemic in two years, and the people who died out of the pandemic were over 4,000. Yet in one year alone 4,324 died out of crashes. This means that this problem is worse than the pandemics,” Kindiki stated.

The CS made the remarks when he commissioned the new Kisumu West Administrative headquarters in Kisumu County.

Kindiki’s remarks come barely a day after 11 Kenyatta University students died in a road accident after the bus they were traveling in was involved in a road accident in Voi.

The CS maintained that the crackdown on illicit liquor and other substances will continue.

His remarks come a day after a grisly road accident near the Maungu area, Taita Taveta, which left 11 Kenyatta University students dead.

Meanwhile, Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura has said the State, through the Ministry of Education, is working closely with the university officials to ensure all necessary support is given to the affected students.

“We join in mourning the loss of our young and promising citizens and pray for the quickest recovery of the injured,” Mwaura said in a statement.

He noted that the university has set up a help desk at the Business Student Services Centre, room 151, to offer assistance and respond to queries from parents and members of the public.

Mwaura said 24 students are currently hospitalised.

“Eight students in critical condition have been airlifted to Nairobi through the support of AMREF Flying doctors, who have provided three planes to help in the medical evacuation,” he stated.

“Another eight students who are in critical condition are also being airlifted for further treatment in Nairobi, through the support of the Kenya Red Cross.”

Mwaura called for vigilance by all road users to ensure safety and reduce the number of road accidents.