The Road Traffic and Safety Agency (RTSA) Director Fredrick Mwalusaka has said that the agency was disappointed by the allegations from Kasama Central Member of Parliament Geoffrey Mwamba that RTSA was being used by the Movement Multiparty Democracy (MMD) to cripple his transport business.
Mr. Mwalusaka said the agency operates on the principle of good corporate governance which includes fairness, accountability transparency and professionalism.
He regretted that individuals of different political affiliations always want to associate the operations of RTSA with partisan politics.
He indicated that at no time had RTSA received instructions from any political party to fix any transport operator.
Mr. Mwalusaka reiterated that RTSA was a corporate body created through an act of parliament and is committed to implementing traffic regulations accordingly.
He vowed that RTSA will not stop implementing and enforcing road traffic regulations saying it was up to vehicle owners and drivers to adhere to traffic rules if they do not want to be inconvenienced.[quote]
Mr. Mwalusaka was reacting to the article that appeared in the Post newspaper of 22nd December 2009 alleging that RTSA is favoring MMD transport operators and was trying to cripple the businesses of the opposition political party members.
Meanwhile, the Road Traffic and Safety Agency (RTSA) has vowed not to spare anyone breaking traffic laws regardless of their political affiliation.
RTSA Principle Publicity Officer, Mercy Mwila, told ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday that the agency is working hard to ensure that Passenger Service Vehicle (PSV) operators adhere to traffic rules during and after this festive season.
Ms Mwila said RTSA will not entertain individuals who want to politicize the agency, which is non partisan.
She said the agency will operate as mandated by the law and not favour anyone in its operations.
Ms Mwila said traffic officers were already on the ground to ensure that traffic rules were followed in order to avoid loss of life through unnecessary accidents.
She revealed that last week, a lot of buses, including Kasama Central Member of Parliament Geoffrey Mwamba’s bus, were impounded after traffic officers discovered that the public service vehicles were not fit to be on the road.
Ms Mwila noted that allowing unfit vehicles and drivers to be on the road would be disastrous especially now that the roads were slippery due to rains.
She disputed assertions that RTSA was selective in the way it enforced the law.
Ms. Mwila noted that it is the duty of RTSA to treat everyone equally regardless of their political affiliations.
She has since called on the bus operators and their drivers to ensure that their vehicles were fit before they travel in order to avoid being impounded.
[ZANIS]
Just make your buses road worthy, stop complaining and whining.
FLASH!!! Have you impounded them? Pliz take some action if you are really impartial!
Be as it may be, there is some kind of bias towards MMD sympathisers even in registration for public transport licence. Ok we who are in politics are not victimised, but those identified as PF are semper in excreta.
GBM’s Germins Bus Services have got a lot of unroadworthy buses in their fleet. He should just work on his buses and stop complaining because this is the same man who made Mulyata to lose his job as Southern province minister for trying to help release one of GBM’s defective buses and by that time GBM was MMD. So don’t politicise issues, you big sack of mealie meal.
Continue impounding some of these death traps. times of those dyna DCM minibuses are gone and we should not start opening remembrance boxes for so many of the people that have died as a result of buses that are not road worthy. GBM’s buses have been on record since inception even when he was in MMD to be causative agents for most of the deaths on the zambian roads.
Yes. you are bieng used by MMD!
It should not matter what political party you belong to bwana,just fix your buses or R.T.S.A will be on your ass.good job ba R.T.S.A.