Frustrated by the continued reckless driving by Miraa transporters, a section of residents in the Miraa growing zones have asked the government to intervene.

The residents who claim that reckless driving has placed the lives of many residents at risk claimed that they will take the law into their own hands if nothing is done.

For a long time Miraa drivers have been accused of throwing caution to the wind while on Kenyan roads ferrying the khat from Meru to Nairobi, to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, North Eastern, Coast and other destinations.

They want the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) to intervene in rogue farmers and drivers.

Nyambene Miraa Farmers and Traders Association (Nyamita) Chairman Kimathi Munjuri said while it is the traffic police who should take action against any overspeeding transporters, AFA must do its part.

"We note with grave concern the number of lives being lost on our roads from accidents involving vehicles transporting our Miraa. We won't tolerate it anymore," said Mr Munjuri.

He said the association has been sensitizing Miraa drivers and Miraa transport vehicle owners on the need for safe driving, drilling into the drivers the realization that if anything happens it is the drivers that are maimed or killed, their families left to grieve and suffer. 

"The vehicle will be compensated by insurance and the Miraa will be loaded onto the next vehicle to the market and most had listened.

"We tell them we are staining our Miraa industry image with these accidents. But we must do more by ensuring AFA kicks the Miraa law in. We will also henceforth collaborate more closely with the traffic police and NTSA to ensure we stop the carnage," Munjuri added.

AFA's Directorate of Miraa, Pyrethrum and Other Industrial Crops is charged with promoting best practices in, and regulating, the production, processing, marketing, grading, storage, collection, transportation, and warehousing of Miraa, Pyrethrum and Other Industrial Crops products.

AFA also issues licenses to all players along the Miraa value chain, including exporters, nursery owners, and those involved in packaging, warehousing, and transportation.

The regulations stipulate the specification of the vehicles that are used in the transportation of Miraa and persons handling the produce must be trained on handling.

It is the number of fatalities involving Miraa pickups that is worrying residents in different places, road users and other stakeholders.

Accidents involving vehicles are common along the Meru-Embu, Embu-Mwea and other places.

This week, a boda boda operator died after he was hit, sparking protests by his colleagues who threatened to retaliate against the transporters.

In January, irate residents set a Miraa pick-up truck on fire after a man, Geoffrey Kinyua, died after he was hit at Kianjiru along the Mwea-Embu highway.

Some said they want the vehicles banned from using the Mwea-Embu route due to the high number of accidents which have caused deaths and life changing injuries.