19 November 2008
THE Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has acknowledged that corruption is still rampant and remains a challenge in its operations despite previous efforts to prevent the scourge.
The existence of corruption has resulted in the increased costs of people obtaining necessary documents such as driving licences and motor vehicle certificates.
RTSA assistant director for road transport Robert Mtonga said during a media workshop in Lusaka yesterday that the public should stand up and assist the agency to fight corruption by refusing any questionable offers.
The workshop was organised by RTSA to educate the media on the operations of the road sector in Zambia.
"Corruption is still rampant in the RTSA and is being propagated by the public. The agency is now working closely with the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Drug Enforcement Commission in trying to fight this scourge," he said.
RTSA had also proposed the revision of the penalty fees for illegal transporters as the current penalty fees were too high and difficult to enforce.
The commission acknowledged that the number of illegal transporters especially, for taxis, was still high but the stipulated penalty of K54 million could not be enforced because it was exorbitant.
RTSA also faces challenges in areas such as the lack of automated vehicle examination centres and illegal licence dealers.
Mr Mtonga said fake agents also still existed outside the RTSA setup and were claiming a lot of money from unsuspecting clients.
RTSA was facing a lot of challenges in its operations related to corruption and poor service delivery by some of its stakeholders such as contractors.
He said the certification system would be computerised.
RTSA deputy director Martin Mbangu also said the agency was saddened that the existence of illegal taxis on Zambian roads had continued.
He said the RTSA had proposed a revision of the law so that impounded taxis would only be released to the owners once they were painted and all the necessary tax requirements fulfilled.
Mr Mbangu said the use of unregistered taxis was robbing Government of revenue.
He said unlicensed taxis were not only eluding paying tax but were also depleting the roads without paying anything.
He said the RTSA was also looking at ways of improving its operations by ensuring that motor vehicles testing centres of excellence were set up in provincial centres.
Road Development Agency (RDA) head of public relations, Loyce Saili said her institution was working closely with the RTSA and the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) in ensuring that the public was served better.
Mrs Saili said whenever an abnormal load was exposed on the local roads and damage was made, the transporter would meet the cost of repairs.
She said the Chinese machinery obtained by the Government had already been distributed across the country and RDA was utilising it to ensure that the various roads across the country were attended to on time.
Lusaka City Council (LCC) representative, Simoonga Mainza said the council had a responsibility to ensure good roads in the city as an appointed RDA agent.
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