Police officers will grow richer in the next three months that the crackdown on Public Service vehicles is set to take. Do you know how? Well, the crackdown that kicked off on Monday this week has seen police officers earn huge sums of money from the public.
First, in the rules governing the crackdown, there are instant fines that have been set. The fine amounts vary epending on the “Michuki rule” broken with the least being ksh 500.
These fines are being picked by officers instantly, of which in a day, at least a good number of people have to be got into the trap. Do you think the officers will take all the fines collected to the government? Of course not the whole of it, they will pocket some money.
On Tuesday, The Standard established a report where officers were on Monday caught on camera transporting, in a police vehicle, desperate commuters stranded following a crackdown on traffic law offenders. They charged Sh400, instead of the usual Sh200 charged by public service vehicle operators on the same stretch in normal circumstances. That is a profit going into their pockets.
The officers, some in uniform, were seen picking passengers from Marigat bus station. A team of The Standard reporters, acting on a tip off from agitated matatu operators, went to the said stage and found passengers boarding the vehicle, a Land Cruiser registration number GKB 689.
One of the beneficiaries of the ride, a woman who according to standard requested anonymity for fear of being victimised, said the officers told them they were headed to Nakuru town for an assignment and would like to ‘help’ willing passengers for Sh400 fare.
The woman, who was travelling with her son, said they were relieved because public transport had been unavailable for hours.
The vehicle, she said, picked more than 10 passengers, including children. She said most of passengers were desperate, and hence did not question the officers’ actions. “We did not have an issue boarding the vehicle. In fact, we were happy because all we wanted was to get to our destination,” she added. The Standard trailed the vehicle from Mogotio at the border of Baringo and Nakuru County and established that it was carrying more than 10 passengers, some with pieces of luggage
The first point to drop passengers along the Marigat Nakuru road was at London estate on the outskirts of Nakuru town.
More passengers alighted at Kenya Farmers Association within Nakuru town while the last lot got off the Government vehicle at Seguton, on Kenyatta Avenue, before it made a turn. When contacted, Rift Valley Regional Police Commander Francis Munyambu said it was wrong for officers to take advantage of the crackdown to ferry civilian passengers.
Don’t think if this continues for a period of three months the police officers will grow richer?