The loss of 14 people in a single road traffic crash is unfortunate and painful as Information and Media Minister Chushi Kasanda has noted.
In the early hours of yesterday, 14 people died in a head-on collision involving a Rosa mini-bus and a heavy duty truck in Pemba, Southern Province.
The fatal crash, which happened around 04:00 hours, involved a United Church of Zambia (UCZ) commuter Rosa minibus, which was carrying 36 people from Maamba enroute to Lusaka, and the truck, which was going in the opposite direction.
Bodies of the 14 deceased accident victims, eight female and six males, were taken to Monze Mission Hospital while 22 survivors, 10 males and 12 females, were admitted to the same health facility.
This has come at a time when the country needs all its human resources to work together in turning around the ailing economy.
The accident has also come at a time when Southern Province is burdened with flash floods that have left hundreds of people in dire need of Government intervention.
This follows heavy rainfall in recent weeks, which has caused flash floods.
This has left communities displaced, property destroyed and entire fields wiped out.
The road accident should serve as a reminder to authorities that owing to population growth, which has come with heightened economic activities, the transport system in Zambia needs upgrading.
This is in terms of increasing the capacity of economic roads leading to areas such as Livingstone – Zambia’s tourist capital – as well as Copperbelt.
Currently, Government is working to expedite plans to construct a dual carriageway between Lusaka and the Copperbelt due to the heavy traffic on the Great North Road.
Therefore, it goes without saying that authorities needs to consider implementing a similar project on the Kafue-Mazabuka-Monze route leading into Livingstone and beyond.
This is because this is an international route that connects Sesheke in Western Province to Namibia, Kazungula in Southern Province to Botswana and South Africa, and also Zambia to Zimbabwe through Livingstone.
This connectivity is not only critical to Zambia in terms of trade, but also to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
In addition, most tourists who do not fly directly into Livingstone use this same route after landing in Lusaka, meaning traffic on the route has over the years kept on increasing.
Therefore, there is need to widen the capacity of the route to boost local and regional trade, besides safeguarding the travelling public.
Besides that, the need for Zambia to move more cargo by rail cannot be overemphasized.
This calls for more investments into railway transport, which will also increase the lifespan of the roads that are constructed at great cost to the nation.
Also of concern is the poor state of the Kazungula-Sesheke Road.
It is our hope that Government will urgently work on this stretch to mitigate traffic accidents.