Mombasa Catholic Archdiocese Bishop Martin Kivuva during a past media briefing. [Photo/ nation.co.ke]
Catholic priests in Mombasa have raised concerns over the increased road carnages during the festive season.Led by Mombasa Catholic Archdiocese Bishop Martin Kivuva, the clerics said the increase in the number of road accidents was as a result of flouting of traffic rules by many drivers and laxity in most of the government agencies in charge of the transport sector in the country.Bishop Kivuva said that most deaths on major highways happen during the Christmas holidays and become very minimal immediately after the festive season.He revealed that there must be a problem with the transport sector and the agencies mandated to manage the transport sector in the country, urging them to pull up their socks.“The government should not wait until we all die in road accidents to raise its voice. It should put in place stringent measures to curb the increased road accidents,” said Bishop.He said reports that more than 150 people have died in road accidents in the past two weeks should worry the government.“If the traffic department and the National Transport and Safety Authority already know all the hot spots along our roads, why do they have to wait so long without any action to avert the road carnage?” asked Kivuva.He appealed to the government to put in place strict measures to tame reckless drivers so as to protect the lives of passengers.On his part, Father John Korea of the Holy Ghost Cathedral Catholic Church in Mombasa said it’s time both the government and public transport companies come together to forge a close partnership that will restore sanity on the roads.The government recently warned that it will deregister all driving schools in the country and inspect them before registering them again.Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia and Interior CS Fred Matiang’i said road carnages must be tamed at all cost by taking proper actions on the driving schools, public transport companies as well as reckless drivers.Is there a newsworthy accident, incident or event happening in Mombasa County that you want Hivisasa to cover? Tell us what is happening by joining this group and have it published. http://bit.ly/2BipYa6