'I have warned my officers against arresting motorists and locking them up in police stations for committing minor traffic offenses, they should either be released on cash bail or issued notices to appear in court'
Image: GEORGE OWITI
Police Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai on Monday ordered the removal of all roadblocks on the roads with police officers now restricted to controlling traffic in towns.
Mutyambai said motorists will no longer be stopped by traffic police officers at static points either to check their licenses, state of their vehicles or over traffic offenses.
Instead, the duty will be performed by a special team of mobile traffic officers who will conduct checks on the highways using motor vehicles branded National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).
The mobile officers will patrol specific designated routes, checking on licenses, state of motor vehicles, and generally ensuring that traffic rules and regulations are adhered to by motorists and all road users.
The mobile vehicles will not take more than five minutes at any point and the officers are expected to conduct their inspections within minimal time so they don't create traffic jams.
Static traffic police officers will only be deployed in towns and major cities with only one duty, to control traffic. No inspection of vehicles, Mutyambai said.
“This is the second level of what I started when I took over office. The strategy to introduce mobile traffic checks was arrived at after rigorous discussion. We unanimously agreed that the National Police Service is the enforcing agency of NTSA regulations,” Mutyambai said.
The IG spoke during the official distribution of NTSA and traffic motor vehicles at the Kenya CID Training School in Nairobi.
“I have warned my officers against arresting motorists and locking them up in police stations for committing minor traffic offenses, they should either be released on cash bail or issued notices to appear in court.”
He said those manning traffic in major towns and cities will be deployed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police Edward Mbugua.
The National Police Service distributed 38 highway patrol vehicles to be used by the mobile traffic officers.
“The vehicles are marked numbers 1-38 with routes and names of the officers on board to enable the National Police Service to locate the vehicles and their occupants at all times. The officers should take responsibility in case of any complaints,” Mutyambai said.
Nineteen of the vehicles were provided by NTSA and Mutyambai said they expect more facilitation from the authority.
The eight regional police commanders were also issued with off-road motor vehicles to ease their movement while supervising operations in their jurisdictions.
The regions included Nairobi, Western, Rift Valley, Nyanza, Coast, Eastern and North Eastern.
The seven brand new Toyota Fortuner vehicles from Toyota Kenya were all flagged off in South C with the respective regional police bosses onboard.
The vehicles were allocated to man highways including the Mombasa-Kilifi-Malindi, Mombasa-Lungalunga, Mombasa-Mackinnon, Mackinnon-Voi-Mwatate, Voi-Mtito Andei-Mtiti Andei-Sultan Hamud, Sultan Hamud-Machakos-Athi River and Athi River-Machakos.
Other routes are Athi River-Machakos, Athi River-Kajiado, Mlango Nne-Eldoret, Narok-Bomet and Busia-Malaba.
All the vehicles surrendered by NTSA were of Peugeot 308 saloon.
The vehicles include Ford Rangers, Volkswagens, and Isuzu TFS Double Cabins.
All police officers involved in traffic operations will be in full uniform with their identification service numbers displayed. They are required not to put on anything on the uniform to conceal the numbers, Mutyambai said.
He said 14-seater matatus will not be allowed to get to the central business district unless they are long-distance operators.
edited by peter obuya