By Amos Kareithi
Kenyan roads have turned into a death trap, where an average 3,000 Kenyans are losing their lives annually in horrific road crashes, even as cabal conspirators rake in billons.
This cabal, investigations reveal, is composed of corrupt insurance agents, traffic police officers and ambulance chasers, who have turned road accidents into opportunities of making money from the dead and the dying.
The racket, which has transformed the country’s highways into an industry of death, has also dealt a crippling blow to the insurance industry, where insurance firms are also dying at an alarming rate, leaving public transport in chaos and travellers uninsured and exposed. Currently, insurance industry sources intimate only three companies registered in the country are willing to underwrite matatus. None is ready to insure public transport motorcyclists (boda boda).
“The public transport insurance underwriting has been infiltrated by ambulance chasers who work with lawyers and traffic police to fleece the industry and victims,” Mr Boniface Kieti, an insurance broker explains.
Whereas insurance companies have entrusted investigators to investigate claims filed by accident victims, there are cases investigators are corrupted by imposters to write favourable reports of injuries suffered by bogus victims.
The Police, investigations indicate, have also not been keen on conducting independent investigations trusting the investigators reports, which supported by P3 forms and medical reports were used by magistrates to issue hefty awards.
At the Malindi Police Station, The Standard On Saturday team watched in disbelief as traffic police inspectors issued licenses and inspection stickers without verifying the mechanical state of the vehicles.
“You have seen how easy it is to get a license; In fact one of the stickers they have given me is for a matatu whose speed governor certificate has expired. By paying Sh1,000 they have licensed me to operate my matatu,” intimated an operator, who requested not to be named for fear of reprisals.
Despite the casual manner inspectors dished out stickers, the recurrence of accidents and the number of people killed by accidents in Malindi is worrying.
Statistics from the Malindi Traffic department are worrying because in 2011, a total of 44 people perished in 40 road accidents. However, the number of cases filed in Malindi courts for traffic offences is lower than the cases recorded at the police as out of the 40 accidents, only 13 drivers were charged with cases of causing death by dangerous driving.
“The minimum award for a child killed in a road accident is Sh120,000. For an adult, the award can go up to Sh3 million depending on the age and occupation of the deceased,” the Managing Director of Amaco Insurance Company, Kennedy Abincha says.
Corrupt lawyers
Mr Abincha says his firm, which is one of the three companies which underwrites PSVs, has been hard hit by traffic accidents. Last year, it was confronted with claims of Sh250 million out which 40 per cent were bogus.
“We have fraudsters who file false claims and who are nevertheless paid through the services of corrupt lawyers who bribe magistrates so that they can get favourable judgements and awards,” Abincha adds.
Some auctioneers interviewed by The Standard On Saturday indicate some top executives in insurance companies have been colluding with some fraudsters to rip their own companies.
“Some executives are known to conspire with judicial officers to give hefty awards in fake claims and the awards shared between the two. Some even call in auctioneers to ensure quick settlement of these claims,” an auctioneer who sought anonymity said.
The insurance fraud has also impacted negatively on the health sector, as hospitals have to divert the meagre resources into treating cases, which could have been avoided.
The burden of road accidents on Kenya’s healthcare is best captured by figures from Kenyatta National Hospital, which is spending an estimated Sh200 million annually to attend to accident victims.
“It takes about Sh300,000 to treat one accident victim suffering bone fractures. Last year, we received 4,156 accident cases. You can see that the money we get at orthopaedic department is not enough to cater for accident victims,” explains Dr James Mogire.
Dr Mogire, who is in charge of the Orthopaedic Department, further said accident victims needed further medication for head and chest injuries, meaning the cost was much higher.
He said it takes about five days in the Intensive Care Unit to stabilise a seriously injured road accident victim, which costs about Sh500,000. A similar amount is needed in the wards and the theatre.
