A digitised fine-collection system for traffic offenders is in the pipeline, with an aim of curbing rogue drivers and at the same time protecting the motorists against corrupt cops.
The Matatu Welfare Association (MWA) is currently consulting with the traffic police, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and various stakeholders to certify the app and streamline the sector.
Through the digitised fine-collection system, offenders will pay fines to the government for breaking traffic rules rather than pay bribes to highway cops.
“If you don’t pay the bribes to the cops, your vehicle is impounded and you are arraigned with several trumped-up charges.
“Some culminate into excess of Ksh100,000 fines or a driver is even put behind bars,” Matatu Welfare Association, Dickson Mbugua, stated.
Sacco drivers lamented that they were running into losses of up to Ksh100 million per year in form of bribes.
Some drivers even use alternative routes to avoid paying bribes. Among the alternative routes they use are feeder and estate roads cutting through some city suburbs.
Using these roads creates congestion in the estates and thus delaying a matatu’s schedule.
Police spoke against the vice but also argued that motorists breaking rules do not report corrupt cops and also fail to provide substantial evidence against the officers in court.
The drivers were encouraged to report the cops to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and to police stations.
EACC, in the past, has conducted crackdowns and undercover operations to arrest corrupt traffic police officers.
The Inspector General of Police, Hillary Mutyambai, also cautioned the police against setting up illegal roadblocks on highways.
