Motorists want mobile traffic courts removed

Motorists and two MPs in Nyanza want mobile courts for traffic offences to be closed, arguing that they were conduits of corruption.

Nyando MP Fred Outa said delays at the courts were making it difficult for people to do business.

He said the hours spent at the mobile courts over failure to pay the fines or give bribes had a trickle effect to the growth of the economy.

“We want these courts abolished since they are of no good to the people of Kenya,” Mr Outa said.

His Kisumu Central counterpart Ken Obura claimed the highest number of the courts were in the region.

He asked residents to ignore orders by officers manning the roadblocks as they only pretended to check traffic offences.

“There is this thing that I want the people of Kisumu to reject; these mobile courts that pretend to be helping us yet they are cash cows for a few individuals,” said Mr Obura.

The courts in Kisumu have been set up in strategic entry points and have been a cause of demonstrations as motorists protest their presence.

In the latest protest in Kisii, anti-riot police were called in to disperse demonstrators. The same has been witnessed at Kisian junction on Kisumu-Busia road as well as in Ahero.

The courts, road users say, have failed as points for traffic offence enforcement.

Mr Joshua Ochieng, who plies the Kisumu-Busia route, said he spent a night in a police cell for forgetting his driving licence at home.

“It was unfortunate that I left in a hurry and forgot my driving licence at home. I was told to give ‘chai’ (bribe) or be taken to court,” he said.

Mr Joshua Omukata, the Nyanza Provincial Traffic Enforcement Officer, said motorists were to blame because they gave the bribes instead of reporting such cases.