Africa-Press – Zambia. Mongu Mayor Nyambe Matakala and Western Water and Sanitation Company acting managing director Leah Banda have perished in a fatal road accident in Mkushi, Central Province.
According to the official statement from Zambia Police, the accident which claimed Matakala, 37 and Banda, 42 happened this morning around 05:30, three kilometers east of Mkushi.
The statement said Banda was driving an unregistered Nissan Caravan from Nakonde heading to Kapiri Mposhi and was with Matakala when their car collided with a copper-laden Howo Sino Truck with a Tanzanian registration number T759 DEN coming from Kasumbalesa. The driver of the Howo Sino Truck fled the accident scene.
“The accident happened when the driver of the (Howo Sinotruk) was improperly overtaking (an unidentified) vehicle and collided head on with the Nissan Caravan, killing the driver and her passenger who sustained fatal body injuries,” according to the statement.
“The two bodies have been deposited to Mkushi District hospital mortuary while the Nissan caravan is extensively damaged.” Western Water and Sanitation Company acting managing director Leah Banda
Yesterday, Former Transport Minister Brian Mushimba said that he was saddened by the recent spike in road accidents across Zambia. Mr Mushimba said almost daily, there is a loved one being lost on the punishing roads across the country.
“As someone who once was in charge of road safety in the country while I served as minister of transportation, I am at pains to make sense of these painful and unfortunate events,” Dr Mushimba said.
“I remember during my time, we recognized that we needed immediate interventions while we planned for medium and long term solutions (such as better roads, dual carriage highways between towns, public mass transit transportation systems, etc).”
Dr Mushimba said as part of the immediate interventions, he signed a raft of Statutory Instruments (SIs) totaling 13. “I was subsequently nicknamed the “Minister of SIs” by the media at the time. I wore that nickname as a badge of honor,” he stated.
“We had researched data that those SIs were necessary to stem the trend on accidents and fatalities. We signed SI to move heavy cargo off roads onto the rail. We signed SI to ban high occupancy vehicles driving in the thick of the night on poorly lit or marked roads. We signed SI to install speed governors in high occupancy vehicles. We signed SI to streamline driver training and strict conditions for acquiring driver licenses. And many more.”
Dr Mushimba said in the first year, Zambia reduced accidents and fatalities by 13% adding that the trend of reducing accidents and fatalities continued while he served in the Ministry of transportation.
“If these SIs are still standing, can the listening government enforce them better please? If they are not standing anymore, can new ones be instituted to save lives on these roads please?”
“Can we get a plan and timelines shared on the transition to medium term and long term solutions (i.e. dual carriage highways, public mass transit systems)? We can wait on many other things for implementation by the new government but life is at stake here on these roads.”
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