Most, if not all, administrative documents established in the country are increasingly disturbing.

 As authentic as they might look, their credibility is more and more open to discussion. To say the least, established roles are almost becoming exceptions with perpetrators going about the trick unperturbed and with worrying impunity. Come to think of it that a rickety vehicle, whose physical state is already visibly eroded, parades a road worthiness certificate attesting that it successfully met the requirements of technical checks.

Vehicles with worn out or bended tyres that dance from take off to final destination, some with unstable control systems, others with nauseating noise and some others that go on and off as they are driven around are just a meagre description of a bigger picture of the poor state of some vehicles in the country’s towns and even on its highways.

That vehicles checked and confirmed to have good headlights collided because of poor visibility and that a vehicle on high speed somersaulted because its tyre got off or got burst are no longer news. Disturbingly, almost all of them have road worthiness certificates duly signed and delivered by administrators. This might sound absurd but it is a shocking reality.

Those who instituted the checks, we want to believe, intended to ascertain the strength of the vehicle so that it conveniently and effectively does what it was manufactured to do. The systematic checks ensure the durability of the vehicle as well as guarantee the safety of users and others around where the vehicles are used. In fact, it is a non-negotiable requirement. But the questions that come begging for answers here are why would an operation as good as this be sold to dogs? Why would actors play tricks to obtain important documents of this nature?

Those who are bestowed with the powers to check and deliver the road worthiness certificates likewise owners or even drivers of those vehicles are into an unexplained ploy with the administrative document. Some even talk of a network of fraudsters who would take just anything from the driver and deliver the certificate to serve as passport through checkpoints.

As the vehicles buy themselves in and out of the technical checks to cheaply obtain the administrative document, there is always a price to pay sooner or later.  Besides the prejudice that commuters go through boarding a cab that will either dance throughout the journey or stop repeatedly to stabilise a disjointed battery, numerous accidents on and off the high way have been blamed on the poor state of vehicles.

Another activity enveloped in the manoeuvre is the issuance of medical certificates. Normally, this document is given after a thorough check of the person requesting it so that it aptly serves the purpose for which it is delivered.  But holders of the document can attest that they hardly or do not even go through any medical check to be delivered the certificate. Most of the time, people requesting the document pay for sometimes already signed paper through a window and only their names are filled on the spot and the document served them through the same window the required amount is received. Not even their blood pressure or sugar levels are taken. Worse still, some of the medical certificates are issued to people who are not physically present. It just suffices to send someone with money and the deal is done.

The end result is that a candidate for recruitment, for instance, who had been medically certified to be apt, ends up not being able to carry on with others. Stakeholders in public activities that require physical strength like the military, administration and sports would tell the story better. While some with strong covering have dodged the physical but indispensable training, others have died of preventable ailments during training and some others have had their stay short-lived in the jobs, creating gaps where strict and uncompromising medical checks would have avoided. This is detrimental to the socio-economic life of the nation and imperatively needs to be halted.  If teachings and sensitisations have shown limits, the ‘stick’ could be tried.