Lobby groups want Sh1.2b NTSA probe
Road safety lobbies now want the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) probed over loss of Sh1.2 billion through a digital driving license scandal.
The groups also raised concerns after a report by the Auditor General revealed that most vehicle inspection centers run by NTSA are either obsolete or disfunctional, thus compromising road safety.
Officials of the Road Safety Association of Kenya led by the Chairman David Kiarie have asked the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to conduct a thorough probe into operations of the Authority while calling for disbandment of its management board.
Speaking to journalists in Juja, Kiambu County, Kiarie who was accompanied by his Road Safety and Speed Governors Association counterpart Edward Gitonga said his team had reported the matter to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) before the audit report was released but no action was taken.
“We had said from the word go that the digital driving license project was a scam and even reported the loss of money to the EACC. Now it is not us but the Auditor General who has has confirmed this in the recent report,” said Kiarie.
He claimed that officials of the anti-graft body appear either to have been compromised or may have vested interests from the casual manner in which they have been handling claims of theft of public money at the road safety Authority.
“It is like a comedy of errors to see EACC officers chasing and arresting traffic police officers who collect 50 shillings from matatus, yet turn a blind eye to the loss of billions of shillings even after it is reported to them,” the official.
The road safety lobbies want the DCI to step in and initiate investigations into the operations of the NTSA and take the necessary legal action.
The officials revisited the issue of lack of inspection of public service vehicles and trucks, a situation they blamed for a surge in the road carnage.
Kiarie also took a swipe at Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen accusing him of failing in his docket as road accident deaths continue to rise.
