By Odoyo Owidi
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.
