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Ensure dashcam, tracking order not white elephant – Kenyan Tribune
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Ensure dashcam, tracking order not white elephant

by kenya-tribune
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Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen’s order that commercial vehicles and school buses be fitted with dashboard cameras and tracking devices is noble. However, he should take care that he doesn’t end up with a white elephant.

His speech at the Londiani prayer meeting in honour of the victims of the weekend multiple road crash that claimed over 50 lives was apt. But whether or not his directive will be implemented to the letter is what will matter. His predecessor at Transcom House, the late John Michuki, had a historic run-in with matatu operators over his directive for public service vehicles (PSVs) to be fitted with speed governors, as Murkomen recalled at the event. But that also failed to end road crashes.

The failure to tame the road carnage has been blamed mainly on matatu crews tampering with the control gadgets and police authorities turning a blind eye to related malpractice.

The indiscipline aside, another major hurdle awaiting Mr Murkomen is inadequate infrastructure. The dashcam and vehicle telematics are supposed to be linked to NTSA and other relevant offices, to which they should transmit the relevant data in real time, said the CS. He added that one could track a vehicle to its exact location and tell its speed and other details.

But that will require Wi-Fi, yet Kenya’s internet penetration is too low and prohibitively expensive and inefficient for that. And with the additional operating cost, transporters will have an excuse to inflate fare, so soon after they adjusted it upwards this week after higher fuel prices were announced.

Going by the experience with cameras installed on highways, whose footage disappears at the time of need—such for a murder investigation—the dashcam and vehicle tracking project might be dead on arrival. To avoid confrontation with transporters over the project if it fail, Mr Murkomen must ensure only proper planning and efficient implementation goes into it and put his foot down to guarantee its success.

Lastly, the CS must seal all loopholes on corruption that could hamper the project, including ensuring that it is not vendor-driven but safety-based. Those found disobeying the directive must be heavily punished. But however he does it, the CS must bring down the highway death toll and injury count.

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