Despite the Government's spirited efforts to end road
accidents, police officers manning these roads are the main hindrance to this
noble duty.
Every policy being enacted to ensure safety of the commuters
is being interpreted to mean an additional avenue by these personnel to indulge
in new methods of corruption.
The introduction of the famed 'Michuki Rules', which were
meant to return sanity to the Matatu transport industry have all been thrown to
the sea and the public service vehicles' madness is part of Kenyans' daily
life.
What surprises many of us are the tricks every police
officer standing on our roads, some not really from the traffic department, use
to extort money from Matatu drivers and touts.
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As a regular commuter, I have noticed that the officers have
invented new ways as they routinely flag down every bus or Matatu.
On the Njabini-Fly Over-Nairobi route, drivers of the
matatus have connived with the officers to be inserting folded Sh50 notes into
a nook on the driver's door, just next to the lock.
Once signaled to stop, the drivers slow down and the
hawked-eyed officer simply opens the door and picks the crumbled notes before
closing it and allowing the buses to go without even scrutinizing or looking at
the crowded vehicles carrying excess passengers alongside farm produce.
On the Naivasha-Mai Mahiu intersection, the drivers simply
drop a rolled Sh50 note at the feet of the police officer manning the section
before driving away after a forced salute.
Another common formula of taking the money is asking for the
driving licence from the drivers, where a Sh50 note is placed in the middle. No
effort is taken to scrutinize the document to verify its class or validity.
To conceal their evil deals, officers also collude with
Matatu Saccos and an agreed amount is delivered to their seniors every evening
to allow defective vehicles on the road.
