Citizen TV Trails MP's Car in Undercover Story

by Denis Mwangi on Monday, 8 March 2021 - 12:18 pm

Government vehicles pictured at the JKIA exit area.

Capital Group

Citizen TV news crew secretly trailed an MP in Nairobi as they sought to uncover the menace of VIPs seeking undue road clearance.

The journalists tracked the MP whose identity was withheld right from the City Mortuary Roundabout to The Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi where he was said to have had a lunch meeting.

According to the footage captured, the legislator had a chase car with a siren blaring as it cleared the road for the MP. Their grey Toyota Prado also had GK number plates.

Citizen TV crew trailing an MP's car in Nairobi CBD

File

According to the law, only parliament leadership enjoys the provision of official cars and road clearance.

Motorists have been complaining about harassment by VIPs who often use their power and influence to bully them off the road.

Interestingly, a lot of private motorists who own cars similar to government-issued vehicles like Toyota Prados have also adopted the culture of installing strobe lights.

Since installing the lights on the roof could attract unnecessary scrutiny, they opt to go for smaller LED lights that are mounted on the cars’ grills.

Drivers of these vehicles often switch the lights on to wade through traffic, overlap, double park, park illegally, drive past curfew hours and do anything that gives them privilege over other road users.

A driver who spoke to Kenyans.co.ke recalled how he bought a Walkie Talkie which he would wave at other motorists to give the impression that he was driving a VIP - and therefore deserved the right of way.

Another driver who had installed the lights on his Toyota confessed that he enjoyed privilege from other road users.

“I remember overlapping with the lights on. I normally switch them off whenever I see policemen, but on this occasion, the officer stopped the other vehicles and ensured that I had my way. It was a close shave but still welcome,” he recalled.

Security officials have promised to crack down on rogue drivers.

“They are a menace. Not everybody should have them. We will work on them. A few years ago motorists would buy a special license for the lights from crooked officers, today, many are just affixing them on their vehicles without documentation,” Nairobi Traffic Commandant Joshua Omukata said in a recent interview.

Police IG Hillary Mutyambai said in 2019 that only Kenya’s top VIPs were entitled to enjoy road clearance alongside emergency vehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks.

But it is not uncommon to find unscrupulous drivers speeding behind the said emergency vehicles in an effort to benefit from the clearance.

Traffic police often stop vehicles well in advance to make way for VIP convoys, leaving the public waiting for considerable periods of time for clearance.

However, what many motorists don't know is that they can report such road indiscipline cases to the Government Vehicle Check Unit (GVCU) and have their issue addressed.

The GVCU is a special unit within the traffic department that cracks down on the misuse of government vehicles.

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