The suspension of manual parking system, JamboPay, has led to the questioning of a Nairobi County parking officer, who is accused of suspending the system before its expiry.
The Nairobi County Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, led by Kariobangi South MCA Robert Mbatia, said the director of parking services Tom Tinega directed in writing that all 397 matatu saccos in Nairobi to stop paying seasons parking tickets through JamboPay on December 24, 2018.
It was also revealed that the decision was not authorised by the Transport minister Mohammed Dagane, acting Nairobi County Secretary Pauline Kahiga or by the Transport and Infrastructure Chief Officer Fredrick Karanja — the three individuals mandated by law to make such policy changes.
Mr Tinega, in his defence, said he wanted to make it easier for the parking department to reconcile payment records and tame alleged fake payments made by the matatu saccos.
The same model is said to be prone to revenue loss, as opposed to the automated JamboPay system.
This is said to have led to the county government losing millions of shillings in seasonal parking fees revenue.
When pressed by Mr Mbatia to explain why the department had only suspended the seasonal parking revenue stream, Mr Tinega could not offer any substantive explanation.