We are taken aback when the minister for Road Transport and Bridges goes on record to state that unfit buses are kept on the roads to ease public suffering. It is common knowledge that many bus operators keep their vehicles off the roads when authorities declare, beforehand, a drive to catch these vehicles. In fact we fail to understand precisely how the public in general are benefitted when they have to ride around in dilapidated public transports that are operated by drivers, the bulk of whom do not have valid driving licenses.

We are informed that 600 new buses will be inducted into service by March next year. What we do not know whether this will pave the way for the decommissioning of 600 old buses. That authorities are now open to relaxing the rules of business to allow for these dilapidated public carriers to ferry the thousands of people who travel each year during the Eid holidays to be with their loved ones in their respective home districts, is hardly joyous news. 

What about the safety of passengers? Or does that not count anymore. What of the tattered limbs and lost lives we witness during this peak holiday season because authorities continue to allow unfit vehicles to operate with impunity on our highways? Are bus operators so powerful that they can bend the law to their benefit and to the detriment of citizens? This sort of attitude towards enforcing the law merely creates more hardship than public benefit.