While driving to Meru for the Madaraka Day celebrations, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet came face-to-face with bullying and impunity among miraa van drivers.
Boinnet’s motorcade was forced to give way to speeding miraa vans as they were recklessly driven, disregarding traffic rules.
The IG immediately ordered that the vans be impounded for disregarding traffic rules and the aftermath of Boinnet’s directive was disastrous for miraa traders as traffic police along Meru-Embu-Nairobi and Nanyuki-Nyeri-Nairobi highways mounted a major crackdown and impounded several vans.
By midday, the traders were crying foul since their product was going to waste as it had been exposed to the sun.
[caption caption="IG Joseph Boinnet"]
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The incident only highlighted the agony of motorists who ply the region in the hands of the miraa transporters.
The situation was worsened by the entry of Probox vehicles transporting muguka from Embu, which just like the miraa vans from Meru, are driven at high speed and overtake dangerously.
Tranquillity along the Meru-Nairobi highway is shattered daily by the hooting from Probox vehicles, which with full headlights on are recklessly driven, startling everyone and forcing motorists off the road as they overtake dangerously.
The cars are seemingly immune to traffic laws since despite arriving at police roadblocks at high-speed speeds, traffic police just move a few steps from the road for their safety and wave them on.
Last week, Central Regional Coordinator Wilson Njega stated that numerous complaints have been made about the drivers' carelessness.
[caption caption="Miraa van"]
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Njega directed police manning the Nyeri-Kirinyaga-Murang’a road to be extra vigilant. The drivers, he said, do not respect other motorists and ignore police orders to stop for checks.
