All traffic officers manning Kenyans roads will be replaced by Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) and officers attached to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) if a new bill is passed into law.
The Bribery (Amendment) Bill, 2023, sponsored by Bomachoge Borabu MP Barango Obadiah seeks to amend the Bribery Act and introduce strict measures to curb bribery tendencies along the roads.
In the new proposal, all police officers' uniforms will be commissioned without pockets to minimise opportunities for corruption.
According to MP Obadiah, this new move is expected to boost public trust and prevent the chances of traffic officers collecting bribes from motorists.
Further, CCTV cameras will be installed across areas where traffic officers will be stationed to eliminate the physical presence of the cops along the roads.
To realise this, the legislator proposed the zoning of all designated traffic stations to optimise deployment and enhance efficiency.
The bill also seeks to establish a multi-agency command centre where CCTV footage areas will be stored.
The centre will act as a central hub for coordinated responses, improving overall effectiveness in combating graft.
These centres will be led by IPOA officers instead of traffic cops to provide unbiased oversight.
While presenting the bill before the Budget and Appropriation Committee on Thursday, MP Obadiah explained that an effective solution to curb bribery is to eliminate or minimise physical interaction between traffic cops and motorists.
"We need to remove the human interaction with motorists on our roads which has resulted in open bribery. The CCTVs will replace police officers in the designated traffic areas," MP Obadiah stated.
"Police officers who will be stationed in the designated areas to man the CCTV command centres in eight regions of the country will not be allowed to move outside of the designated area," he added.
The latest data from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) revealed that police officers accept daily bribes ranging from Ksh972 to Ksh15,396.
According to the data, traffic officers are at the forefront of receiving bribes upon the pretense of offering service to Kenyans.
