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NTSA GIVES KENYA MPYA A MONTH'S NOTICE TO STREAMLINE OPERATIONS OR ELSE......

Following a series of accidents involving Neo Kenya Mpya buses, National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has given the company one month's notice to streamline its operations or face unspecified action.

NTSA’s Deputy Director and Head of Corporate Communications Mr. Dominic Kabiru has summoned the officials of this company and ordered them to streamline their management system.

“There has been some public complains about frequency of accidents involving Neo Kenya Mpya buses and following these incidences NTSA has instructed the management to ensure that all their vehicles are fitted with functional speed governors among other safety measures,” he said.

He further instructed its management to effectively monitor its routes as well as tame the behaviour and attitude of their crew. 

“We have advised them to hire qualified personnel to run the fleet and set up a date when the officials, drivers and conductors of the company will be trained and sensitized by NTSA,” Mr. Kabiru said.

The bus company was issued with a January 24th deadline to have completed the implementation of all the above conditions failure to which stern action will be taken against them.

The transport company which operates a fleet of buses between Thika and Nairobi has been in the news most of 2015 for all the wrong reasons.

On December 13 last year, two people were killed and five others were seriously injured when a Kenya Mpya bus rammed a matatu near Brookside Dairy.

Ten days later, on December 23, two buses belonging to the company crashed near Kenyatta University injuring scores of passengers.

Following complains of its members as well as the general public, Thika District Business Association (TDBA) was also contemplating taking an undisclosed action against the company.

Speaking to Thika Town Today via telephone, the association's secretary Mr. Wanyoike said that their office had been jammed by complains of the danger these buses were posing to the residents of Thika Town.

He wondered what NTSA was doing to curb this menace arguing that NTSA was always very swift to punish other PSV companies that faced similar or even less incidences of accidents.

“Our office is under so much pressure from the public questioning us on what is happening with these buses. People are tired of losing lives or getting injuries out of these accidents yet they see no action being taken against the company or its crew. They are demanding to know the invisible power that even NTSA fears to rattle,” Mr. Wanyoike said.

Meanwhile, a driver with the bus company has been charged with causing the deaths of two passengers and injuring five others through careless and dangerous driving.

Humphrey Ndung’u appeared before Thika Chief Magistrate’s Court and denied causing the death of Beth Nduta Kuria, 82, and Sophia Wanja, 33, when the bus he was driving, registration number KBU 755S, rammed into a matatu run by Thika Road Sacco near Brookside Dairy on December 13, last year.

The court heard that Ndung’u fled the scene of the accident immediately after but was arrested ten days later. He was remanded after failing to raise a bond of Sh 300,000 with a surety of similar amount. 

The case will be heard on March 10, 2016.

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