MPs grill KeNHA over rising accidents due to deplorable roads

The wreckage of a tractor that was involved in an accident, killing five people at Maliki in Bungoma County along Webuye-Kitale highway. [File, Standard]

A House team has taken the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to task over the increased fatal accidents in the Western region due to poor roads and shallow bridges.

Lawmakers sitting in the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday questioned the management of the roads authority over what it termed as its continued delay in upgrading and maintaining the tarmac roads in the region, leading to deadly accidents.

The issue came up after officials from the State Department of Roads and KeNHA appeared before the committee to answer to audit queries raised by reports from the Office of the Auditor General. Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera brought to the fore that just last week, 14 people died in a grisly accident along the narrow Chemoi Bridge along the Eldoret-Webuye highway.

While noting that it was not the first time such an incident had occurred, he questioned why KeNHA had not acted on expanding the bridge.

“I’m sure KeNHA gets reports of deaths that occur between the Mukhonje area and the Eldoret- Malaba road. We are losing people every day because we have a problem with the steep road between Mukhonje and Chemoi area. There is also Chemoi Bridge which is too narrow. Just last week, a matatu and a truck collided and 14 people died. For how long will this continue before action is taken?” Posed MP Nabwera.

Teso South MP Mary Emase said that accidents were also increasingly being reported along the busy Kisumu-Busia road which is currently in a deplorable state.

Further, she raised concerns over the Malaba-Busia road which had taken a toll from the heavily-loaded trucks using the transport corridor.

“These roads are full of portholes and when it rains we have water-filled holes that resemble the size of a swimming pool. I’m just wondering what plans KeNHA has for improving these roads... The Malaba-Busia road was also not meant for heavy trucks but because of the heavy traffic on that road, you find heavy trucks taking a shortcut and using the roads to access the Malaba border or Busia border I don’t know what plans you have to reduce traffic or block the heavy trucks from using it,” said Emase. In his response, KeNHA Director General Luka Kimeli sought to assure the committee that maintenance and repair works were being undertaken by the authority in a bid to avert more deaths through accidents. Kimeli explained to the MP Tindi Mwale –led team that along the Eldore-Webuye transport corridor, the biggest issue was drivers freewheeling their trucks but the authority had partnered with the police to institute the arrest of such drivers.

He also said that plans to secure funding for the expansion of Chemoi Bridge were underway.

“One of the biggest problems is freewheeling by trucks on that road and we have told the police to take charge and assist us arrest these fellows... But then I agree that the bridge is a bit narrow and we can put it in our programme to ensure that it is expanded to save lives,” stated Kimeli.

As for the Malaba-Busia road, he submitted that KeNHA was set to roll out a mobile weighbridge targeting over-loaded trucks. “It is true, the section of the road between Malaba and Busia is getting worse every day. To stop the overloading, we will be deploying a mobile weighbridge to stop those heavy trucks from using the roads. That road was not meant to provide passage for the heavy trucks but provide passage for the lighter trucks,” remarked Kimuli.

“On the Kisumu-Busia road, we appreciate it is in a bad state but not necessarily because of the rains. We are dealing with a road that was constructed a long time ago and it is now aged and requires reconstruction. In the meantime, what we are doing is that we had a contractor who was not a good one and we had to move him but we are getting another one who will be able to repair the potholes. We are also working with the ministry to see if we can be able to secure funding for these roads,” added the DG. According to a report released by the Kakamega County Government in 2022, transport corridors in the western region may have the most dangerous blackspots in the country. The Kipkaren River - Kaburengu junction, a 15 kilometre stretch along the Eldoret - Webuye highway, is one of Kenya’s most dangerous roads, claiming lives in repeated horror traffic accidents.

Majority of these accidents involve petrol oil tankers, trucks, matatus and boda boda riders.

Though sporadic, they always hit national headlines because they lead to the loss of multiple lives, massive destruction of property and leave scores with life-threatening injuries.

Most times, they involve head-on collisions, matatus ramming stationary trucks or, as happened last week, fuel tankers bursting into flames following accidents.

Authorities noted that missing signposts and road marks, careless driving and narrow bridges along that highway are the major causes for the numbing carnage. Going by media reports and police data, Kaburengu junction, Chimoi, Mukhonje, Kipkaren and Lwandeti could be the deadliest blackspots on Kenyan roads.