Kenya's traffic police a haven for impunity

It was disgusting watching traffic police officers struggle to put forward toddler-like lies about the sources of their large amounts of cash. A police constable transfers money equivalent to his three months’ salary on a daily basis to his seniors, something he cannot defend.

The only way to end corruption on Kenyan roads is to abolish arrest of traffic offenders except those who are a danger to other road users. I have heard many times the only argument traffic police know; ‘that the giver is also as guilty’!

So let us remove the opportunity for giving, let the suspects and the police meet in court if the suspect chooses to plead not guilty. Motorists should be given ‘notice to attend court’ tickets by the roadside. We lose a lot of revenue that should be paid in court to rogue traffic police. Drivers bribe because of ‘bullying’ by the police.

What happened to the new guidelines agreed on recently by the Chief Justice and Inspector General of Police that reintroduced roadside booking of motorists? Already abandoned! Impunity!

Even the introduction of Matatu Saccos was just meant to raise the stakes for bigger bribes. I have never understood why a whole Sacco of 100 members is punished for the offence of one member.

The police service has bought many motorcycles for hunting and collecting bribes from drivers, but they cannot print booking tickets (bond) to give drivers to attend court and/or pay fines to the Government.

A motorist whose car is registered in Kenya and is displaying Kenyan registration plates should not even be asked to pay cash bail for a traffic offence.

We have let the police make ‘laws and rules’ that suit their own agenda of collecting bribes from drivers even for misdemeanours on the pretext that drivers will fail to attend court. A vehicle registered in Kenya is enough surety for any traffic offender to appear in court to answer to a traffic offence, many of which are only punishable by fines.

No sane person can keep his car off the road for even 10 days to avoid a fine of Sh10,000 or Sh20,000. When the CJ and the IG were giving guidelines for handling traffic offenders, the police curiously still insisted that speeding suspects must still be arrested, just because this is where the stakes are highest.

It involves mostly drivers on long journeys and would definitely be willing to part with good money to remain on the road.

Motorists who are unable to sort themselves out at the roadside are herded to various police stations and one would think the traffic courts would be full the next day but those who actually arrive in court to answer charges are much fewer.

Some drivers who are unwilling to co-operate end up in court even when they are willing to plead guilty and pay the well-known fines immediately, which wastes so much time for all the parties involved.

Culture change in the police service will only come from outside the force, as happened in the Judiciary. Career policemen will never see anything wrong with taking a motorist to a police station for a misdemeanour, it is their culture and they have risen through the ranks seeing it happen.

The Traffic Police need to understand the many reasons drivers are supposed to be booked to appear in court and then allowed to continue with their journey. One such reason is because a car may be carrying many innocent people who have nothing to do with the offence that the driver may have committed. Some vehicles may be involved in emergency services including those that are life-saving.

Traffic offences are generally minor and the inconvenience of getting a driver off the road may turn out to be a more severe punishment than what the law prescribes. Motor vehicles have clearly displayed registration plates and can always be rearrested if the driver failed to appear in court or pay the prescribed fine.

To worsen the scenario, another body known as the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) was introduced, a body whose impact in road safety has never been felt years after its inception.

This is because, instead of formulating policies and guidelines to improve road safety, they also want to be involved in traffic law enforcement; they want to be on the road too. Today motorists using the by-passes are made to drive at urban area speed limits of 50km/h yet by-passes are roads meant to bypass the urban traffic.

These by-passes have signs warning drivers against stopping and have no junctions but change-overs; they are freeways yet the NTSA have never seen anything wrong with these bribe-generating speed limits of 50kph because it serves their interests. Why should motorists drive at 50kph half the journey between Nairobi and Naivasha?

Road deaths have never decreased since NTSA was formed, instead the deaths have increased gradually. NTSA should be dissolved and the budget used to do more important things like building decent houses for the police.

Almost all police stations in Kenya have enough land for police housing.