The numbers better come down or you'll be in trouble - Ruto warns CS Murkomen over road accidents

During the launch of the National Road Safety Action Plan 2024-2028 on Wednesday, President Ruto noted that the menace must be nipped in the bud and the accident cases contained.

"I look forward to one year from now we will have another meeting and Kipchumba Murkomen you better come with results that the numbers are coming down otherwise you will be in a lot of trouble," he said during the event held at the Kenyatta International Conventional Centre (KICC).

"The numbers have not been coming down they have been going up every year. Waziri (CS) and your team the numbers have to come down."

President Ruto added that the mission should be attainable as the team can benchmark with other jurisdictions and borrow proven models to achieve road safety.

He has also vowed to ensure that his administration will permanently end the long-running accident crisis in the country.

On his part, Murkomen stated that he has been the punching bag of vexed Kenyans whenever accidents occur, arguing that the responsibility lies with the road users.

"We have a situation where when we have road accidents like we had a few grisly road accidents in the last one month... you have national outrage and everybody in the country is looking for somebody to blame and usually the target is the Cabinet Secretary," he said.

"The most important actor is the driver and the rider because that is the man or woman with the greatest control on whether or not they are going to sort out the problem of road accidents."

Murkomen added that the strategic plan will onboard all players in the transport sector to ensure everyone is held accountable.