System of paying traffic fines by M-Pesa launched

By WAHOME THUKU

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga launched a system that will allow for the payment of traffic fines by money transfer service, M-Pesa.

The system was launched at the Kibera Law Courts, but will also be available at the Milimani Law Courts before being rolled out to other stations.

The Judiciary pledged to embrace every available technology to enhance efficiency in dissemination of its services to the public. “The Judiciary will not shy away from embracing the kind of technology that is already in the public domain,” said Chief Registrar Gladys Shollei.

The system dubbed Faini Chap Chap (corrupted Swahili for quick fines) was developed in collaboration with mobile phone service provider Safaricom.

It entails sending a case number and cash to a business number. A Judiciary receipt is then generated instantly by the system and used to free the held offender.

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An idea entailing paying the fines inside the courtroom was muted several years ago by former Kibera Magistrate (now High Court Judge) Grace Nzioka.

When Nzioka, now based in Mombasa, worked as Senior Principal Magistrate at Kibera she developed the method of having traffic offenders pay fines to a cashier inside the court to save their relatives the hustle of processing the payments.

And when she narrated the idea to the Judicial Service Commission during her interview for the High Court job, it captured the attention of the CJ who then decided to work on it.

Yesterday she returned to Kibera to witness the launch of her idea in electronic form at a colourful ceremony also attended by Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore, senior Judiciary officials, magistrates and area residents.

She recalled how many people bonded in police stations would end up in prison due to a breakdown in converting the police bond to fines in court.

Ms Shollei said the system had been launched at Kibera as an honour to those who initiated the idea and would be expanded to cover other payments made to the Judiciary.