Transport Minister Jacob Hara has said the government has given bus owners up to March this year to put GPS trackers in their buses in a bid to ensure drivers adhere to speed limits.
Hara made the remarks Tuesday after cheering one of the students who was involved in a bus accident in Mzimba, currently admitted to Mzuzu Central Hospital.
The patient was one of the 59 students from Mary Mount Secondary School who were coming from Lilongwe to Mzuzu and were involved in an accident at Luviri in Mzimba District on Monday. One student died from the impact of the accident while three others sustained serious injuries.
Hara, who said they will have a control room at the ministry headquarters to monitor buses through GPS, indicated that the government also intends to start reviewing issuance of licenses for bus drivers.
“This accident has hit us really hard and we, as a ministry, are re-looking the things that we do. For example, we will be reviewing processes of issuing licences for PSV drivers, especially those that drive buses and minibuses. We want to get strict here.
“Let me also announce here that, as a policy shift, we have decided that, from now onwards, we are giving them an allowance of about two to three months because, from March, we want to ensure that every bus is fitted with this system so that we can monitor them from our office. Should any driver be found committing offences such as speeding, we will be arresting the driver not necessarily owners,” he said
Meanwhile, Doreen Nyasulu, Principal Nursing Officer for the Out-Patients Department at Mzuzu Central Hospital, has said the student they received Monday night is still under observation but is in stable condition.
