Murkomen vows stern action against speeding miraa vehicles

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has vowed to restore order among miraa (khat) transporters who are blamed for dangerous driving on Kenyan roads.

Murkomen and Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) Director General Bruno Linyiru committed to rid rogue miraa transporters from the roads, blamed for causing accidents.

The CS said the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) and National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA) will partner in the efforts to curb dangerous driving on the roads.

He said the agencies and the security personnel were scheduled to meet on May 21 to deliberate on the measures to take against rogue miraa transporters.

“We need to agree with finality that when miraa vehicles overspeed, they should be stopped. When we stop the miraa transporters from going at 200km per hour, the miraa stakeholders should not claim this government wants to hurt miraa and muguka businesses,” Murkomen said.

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The CS said the miraa and muguka stakeholders meeting will bring together players from Meru, Embu, Tharaka Nithi, Kirinyaga, and Murang’a counties.                      

He observed that the transporters usually drive at high speeds from their counties but slow down when they approach Nairobi.                                                                     

“When they reach Nairobi, they start to slow down. Let us have this meeting representing the stakeholders, all the elected leaders affected, including the MCAs and MPs. We want to make one decision so that no one will claim this government wants to oppress miraa stakeholders when it enforces traffic rules,” he said.     

Linyiru said that though AFA came up with the regulations, they will partner with NTSA for an effective crackdown on miraa transporters flouting the rules with impunity.

"We have the Miraa Regulations and the Miraa Code of Conduct. These regulations came about a year ago. We (AFA) have the responsibility of registering commercial transporters for miraa," he said.

Linyiru said that addressing overspeeding by miraa drivers and other traffic offences was the sole responsibility of NTSA and the traffic police who enforce the regulations.

"We (AFA) set the regulations and standards (of transporting Miraa), and therefore we can support. We have agreed with NTSA to move with speed and get rid of these (rogue drivers) from our roads," he said.

He said the two agencies will work together to curb accidents involving miraa transporters.