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| National |
| Government fails to enforce traffic rules |
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by
Chimwemwe Tsitsi, 07 April 2005
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14:57:14
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The new regulations for minibus operators which became effective last Friday are not fully operational with government departments passing the buck on the reasons for their failure to take off..
The new traffic rules include wearing of uniforms by minibus crews, queuing of both passengers and minibuses before boarding. They also include stopping single rear tyre minibuses from long distance trips and elimination of touts.
According to Road Traffic Director James Chirwa, the new rules came into effect last week Friday April 1 and are expected to be enforced by the Police Traffic Department.
“The new regulations are an addition to the Road Traffic Act and any offender of any of the rules would be fined for “failure to comply with instruction” as stipulated in the traffic act,” said Chirwa.
However, the Police Officer-in-Charge of Service Traffic and Transport Jimmy Gama said there is need for more sensitisation on the new regulations before the police can come into action to enforce them, adding that the police are not there solely to punish.
“We are trying to meet the Road Traffic Commission and National Road Safety Council for more civic education on the regulations after which we will be justified to enforce the rules, otherwise people seem not to be fully aware of the rules,” said Gama.
He said the plan is to discuss with all stakeholders and then map out how to implement the regulations.
Chairman of the Minibus Owners Association (Mboa) Christopher Chisesele said his association is ready to comply to help reduce road accidents in the country.
“The new regulations would help reduce loss of life and property and quite a good number of minibus operators have already started complying especially in the areas of queuing and wearing of uniforms,” said Chisesele.
He said the uniforms were tailored by a Lilongwe-based firm and are available at the association’s offices in the North, Centre and South in all sizes.
“In the Centre, more than three quarters of the owners have already bought the uniform while in the South the situation has improved compared to last week when people were reluctant to buy the uniform.
“As regards the North, the uniform is also selling well, although the sales started a bit late,” said Chisesele.
He said the colour of the uniform is brown for drivers and maroon for conductors.
Chisesele also said it is now a requirement by law that all minibus owners become members of the association because it is now mandated to look into operations of all public passenger minibuses in the country.
The Passenger Welfare Association of Malawi (Pawa) has applauded the new rules, saying passengers in the country are ready to comply once the regulations come into force.
“We welcome the decision to enact the new rules but we wonder why it has taken so long for the rules to come into force because we understand they were supposed to come into force by January 1,” said Pawa secretary general Alfred Mkandawire.
But Chirwa said the three months delay from January 1 to April 1 was due to delays in gazetting the new rules.
“The rules were gazetted in January after the deadline had passed due to logistical problems beyond our control,” said Chirwa, adding, “After all the additional time was used in reaffirming commitment of the stakeholders.”
Meanwhile, the touts in the South have formed an association which they say was registered in the first week of March.
Vice chairman of the association Stanley Nkhoma said the association called on RTD to postpone the enforcement of the new rules until the call boys are given a chance to be incorporated into the new system.
“We called on the Road Traffic Commission Directorate to postpone the implementation until all stakeholders, including us, are involved in discussing the way forward to ensure that there is the required order as well as saving the job of touts,” said Nkhoma.
Chirwa dismissed the touts’ demands, saying as a national commission, they cannot deal with a regional body on matters affecting the whole nation.
“Are they trying to say that the rules should only apply in the Central and Northern regions?” asked Chirwa.
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