Limuru Member of Parliament John Kiragu Chege has presented a bill to The National Assembly proposing the fining of eye witnesses who fail to report road accidents.
The proposal additionally stipulates that failure to report or give a true account of the accident will see the individual liable to a fine of Kshs 50,000.
Eyewitnesses will hence be mandated to legally testify in case of an accident.
The bill is part of the National Transport Safety Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which seeks to assign the function of overall responsibility for safety of land transport to the National Transport and Safety Authority( NTSA).
In the bill, NTSA will be handed powers to probe accidents through employing services of a traffic accident investigator who will have unrestricted access to all aspects of the accident including eye witnesses, victims and drivers.
“Where an investigator has reasons to believe that a person is capable of supplying information, producing a document or giving evidence that may assist in the performance of an investigation, the investigator may by summons signed by himself or herself and served on that person, require the person to furnish the information in writing signed by the person served, and in the case of a body corporate, signed by a competent officer of the body corporate,” the Bill read in part.
The witness will be asked to testify in a court of law, give evidence or produce documents relating to the accident at a required time with the manner of compliance indicated.
“A person who, without lawful excuse, refuses or fails to comply with a summon under this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of not less than fifty thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not less than six months or to both,” the bill warned.
The Bill will also empower NTSA to solicit information from witnesses even if the evidence given will incriminate the person.
If the investigator suspects the witness is withholding information, an arrest warrant will be issued, granting police the authority to raid the witness’s premises and property.
