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{
    "id": 767833,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/767833/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 29,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Melly",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12849,
        "legal_name": "Julius Kipbiwot Melly",
        "slug": "julius-kipbiwot-melly"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Deputy Speaker, I beg to move the following Motion: THAT, aware that the capacity of highways and urban roads in the country is increasingly unable to cope with ever-increasing vehicle traffic, particularly in cities and urban centres, resulting into traffic congestion and snarl-ups; noting that these traffic congestions have resulted into serious inconveniences and wastage to motorists, heavy economic losses in terms of work hours and fuel consumption in traffic jams; concerned that these roads and highways lack dedicated lanes for use by emergency vehicles such as police, ambulances, fire engines and other such vehicles in emergency situations; cognisant of the fact that lack of dedicated lanes have many times led to loss of lives when emergency vehicles are not able to get smooth passage ways due to traffic congestion, this House urges the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, through the Kenya Urban Roads Authority and the Kenya Highways Authority, to designate service lanes for emergency vehicles along the urban roads and highways throughout the country. This Motion tries to look at issues that affect Kenyans in everyday life. If you look at our city here today, ambulances, police vehicles and fire engines have difficulty responding to emergency situations. I have seen instances, especially in the evening or during rush hours, where ambulances hoot and sirens blare in clogged up roads when they want to take a patient to hospital. A number of patients have succumbed to their illness on these roads because the roads are at times narrow or clogged up; they cannot even allow a service provider to rush to the hospital to save the life of a patient. So I am looking at it in such a way that each and every road…. If you go to developed economies in Asia and Europe and even in this part of the world like in South Africa, you will realise that certain lanes have been designated as service lanes. You will find that ambulances going to the Nairobi Hospital, MP Shah Hospital or any other hospital are stuck in jam for hours. Even if the motorists want to give way, there is no way they can assist. So I am suggesting that we develop a policy that establishes these lanes to be used expressly only by emergency service providers. At times in this city, fire has erupted yet the national Government has fire engines and can quickly respond to that. However, just because of traffic jams and a clogged up road system, they reach their designated areas one to two hours later when houses have already been razed down and millions of shillings have been lost yet this country could have saved that by just having a designated area. I am proposing that these designated roads should not be used even if we have traffic snarl ups and congestion. Any motorist who shall be found using these roads should be penalised so that they remain open throughout the day. They should also be designed in such a way that they will assist Kenyans in case of any problem. I have seen instances where emergencies have occurred and the police want to respond quickly but because of traffic jams they get stuck on the road all through yet they would have saved a life, stopped a robbery and any other bad incident if we had designated roads. This has cost this country losses in terms of lives, time and foreign earnings because our capital is the hub in East and Central Africa. Many businessmen and corporates would like to work in countries where there is easy movement of traffic to and from the airports and to the designated areas. However, to move from one point of the city to another is quite difficult especially for emergency services. In Kenya for example, we have many Kenyans who go to India and other parts of the world for medication. However, Africans from Tanzania, Uganda, The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}