How overloaded trucks beat weighbridge rules in the dead of night

A Truck in a weighbridge

By David Odongo

Our team camps at the Mlolongo Weighbridge in Athi River the whole night. We are in a mission to unearth the goings-on at this famous freight station, dubbed the gateway to Nairobi and Western Kenya.

We arrive at the weighbridge on Thursday evening, and it appears to be business as usual. Officials from contracted private companies, the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) and the Police Service are judiciously weighing trucks, before allowing them to proceed.

Cash Cow

Everything seems to run like clockwork and we can’t help but marvel at the efficiency, a far cry from what we have become accustomed to.

But we don’t have to wait for long.

The clock’s hands strike 11pm, and most senior officers leave, entrusting their junior colleagues to continue manning the weighbridge.

That is when we witness action. The junior officers, determined to turn the weighbridge into a cash cow, let the trailers — we count upto 43 — that had been parked a safe distance away, to pass.

It is then that we discover the elaborate racket.

What happens is that overloaded trucks travel only at night. They leave Mombasa Port at midnight and arrive in Mlolongo before dawn.

At Mlolongo, we discover, the drivers avoid the weighbridge because police bosses and other government officials are extra-vigilant and overloaded trucks risk attracting hefty fines.

The drivers of the overloaded vehicles therefore park a few kilometers from the weighbridge and bide their time — they either sleep or make merry the whole day.

But in between, they organise payment of a minimum of Sh5,000 to an agent, who works on behalf of the KeNHA officials and police.

After 11pm, with most police bosses gone, the drivers power their engines and one by one, the lorries leave for their destinations.

To our shock, the officers manning the weighbridge do not weigh the trucks.

On Thursday, we counted 43 trucks that had been parked leave Mlolongo without being weighed.

By 2am in the morning, there was no single truck left by the roadside.

An hour later, the first trucks from Mombasa drove in and took the same slots left vacant by the earlier departing trucks.

Delay Frustration

We learn they, too, were to wait until midnight the following day before proceeding with their journey after clearance.

Wanting to know more, we spoke to several drivers who had slept through the day, but most were frustrated with the delay.

“I spend between Sh15,000 and Sh25,000 from Mombasa to Busia. The money is to ensure easy passage through the weighbridges,” a seemingly dejected Abdi, driver of a prime mover truck, tells us.

We are seated in a pub, squeezed between two butcheries. The aroma of roast meat wafts in from both sides. Abdi is drinking a Tusker, and the lady next to him is sipping a sprite and chewing miraa.

“We think the rules on axle-load weight are too harsh. If the lorry has capacity, why can’t it be allowed to carry as much as it can? I really hate having to wait for 12 hours before I have to leave Mlolongo, but what can I do?” he poses.

We seek to know what happens on occasions senior police officers remain on duty beyond 11pm, and are told drivers work with loaders and pick-up owners to offload and ferry some goods to lighten the load, after which the lorries drive through the weighbridge, to be reloaded two or three kilometers ahead.

We are told it costs between Sh3,000 to Sh4,000 to have a pick-up a trucker through the weighbridge.
However, for some drivers, they dread this tactic.

“I don’t trust the pick-up people. I only use them if I have established a relationship, what if they take off with my cargo?” poses Abdi, although he readily admits most of his colleagues prefer the pick-ups than the long wait.

I scout the busy Mlolongo streets at night, looking for pick-up drivers. I pose as a truck driver, and ask one of the pick-up drivers whether he will help me offload some cargo to enable me pass through the weighbridge.

His name is Patrick. He is middle aged, with a pronounced beer belly. He chews on a toothpick as he asks me questions about my cargo. In less than a minute, he had deduced I am a fake, and sends me away.

The Mlolongo weighbridge is the route used to move cargo from the port to Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi.
Economists attribute the rising cost of goods to the poor state of the Great North Road and delays, bribery and extortion at weighbridges.

Mr Clyde Mutotso, partner at Clyde & Associates, says about 50 per cent of total import freight costs are due to port expenses and for fighting transport hurdles.

He quotes a study done by CPCS Transcom that states that truck drivers pay between 56,000 to Sh75,000 to corrupt officers from Mombasa to Kigali in Rwanda.

It costs about Sh130,000 to move a container from Dubai to Mombasa, but the cost doubles between Mombasa and Kampala.

“It is only logical that the cost be passed on to you and me, twice, additionally to facilitate road construction and maintenance,” he says.

Mr Andrew Simiyu, a freighter, says Mlolongo weighbridge is the most efficient in the country.

“During the day, things work well and no one can even dare ask for a bribe. But when night falls, the nightmare begins,” says Simiyu.