Govt. committed to curb accidents – Mutale

Government says it is committed to curbing the road traffic accidents that have recently taken root in the country.

Central Province Permanent, Edwidge Mutale, says various interventions are being made by the government to help reduce the road traffic accidents.

In a speech read on her behalf by her Assistant Secretary, Abigail Malukutila, Ms Mutale, says the government is concerned, about the continued loss of lives, due to road traffic accidents, especially on the Great North Road.

She was speaking when she officially opened a Capacity Building Partnership Workshop organised by the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, in conjunction with the World Food Programme, at Gonde Lodge in Kabwe, today.

She regretted the numerous lives that have been lost on the Great-North Road between February 2013 and March 2014 and advised the workshop participants to participate fully by coming up with viable contributions that will be used as solutions in mitigating the accidents.

The Permanent Secretary said her office is equally concerned and is working towards reducing road carnages but that the exercise requires the involvement of all stakeholders, including the church.

She urged the workshop participants to take the training seriously because she will monitor the responses that will follow after the training to see whether the situation has improved.

And Provincial Coordinator for Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, Boyd Siyanga, says the objective of the Capacity Partnership Project is to improve the coordination between key government institutions.

Mr Siyanga says this comes in the realization that during road traffic accidents, some lives which may have been saved have been lost, not because of the impact of the accidents but due to lack of coordination among the key government institutions.

He said in this regard, the government is trying to mitigate the unnecessary loss of lives by building capacity among stakeholders to enable them respond effectively to certain eventualities such as road traffic accidents, and thereby preserve lives.

The workshop which is expected to last for four days has attracted participants from key government institutions, such as the Road Development Agency, RDA, Road Transport and Safety Agency, RTSA, the Ministry of Health and the Fire fighting Unit, among others.