As the hard working Kenyan I leave home early and embark on a journey to do my civic duty of treating women in various parts of the country. I drive down the smooth Thika Road as I throw a prayer for the quick recovery of the Thika Road President – Mwai Kibaki. You cannot help but be amazed by the value proposition this fantastic president brought to this country –Thika Super Highway. 3 Km down the road at a bump the screaming yellow police jackets are visible as they do the usual – stop vehicles point to the side, directing the vehicle that has been flagged down to move to the side. I am accustomed to this having driven on the same road for 15 years plus.
To my surprise the yellow-jerseyed policeman stops me and asks his fellow policeman “Kuna KAQ kwa hiyo list”. Of course I am sure I cannot be in the list. Surprise, surprise! He says I am actually on the list inscribed on a small piece of paper. I park the car on the side. The policeman takes my driving license. I breathe in and out wondering aloud – “hii gari nilisema ni mzee ningeiuza kitambo; ama ni uchafu – the car was due for a shower….. for 5 days.”
I am quickly ushered to a blue vehicle with receipt books where a few other drivers were pleading their innocence. When my turn came I asked what my crime was and I was told that I was driving at 97KPH. You should have seen the look on my face. I was then asked to pay a bond to appear in court. I asked why. She replied that it was because I was over speeding. “Mmmmh. Over speeding at 97kph? I moved over to a policeman who wore a dirty green uniform and looked like the boss. He said his name was Marwa. He was surprisingly pleasant. I engaged him and asked him what the speed limits were and he said that my crime was actually committed just past Muthaiga where the speed limit was said to be 50. He smiled and reported that he was only doing his job which was to enforce that.
I was burning inside and in my militant mode I asked him whether it was realistic for a speed limit in a Superhighway to be 50. He told me that there may be people crossing. I informed him that it was Thika Super Highway. Where people cross there are bumps and therefore people slow down or there is a bridge for people to cross. I informed him that it was actually ridiculous for hard working Kenyans to be stopped for ridiculous speed limits on super highways. The gentleman smiled seemed to agree with me. He asked me to go and say that to the Magistrate at Milimani Courts on Monday. A bond was quickly drafted for me. I will go argue this out on Monday and will give you the outcomes. I then drove off to serve deserving Kenyans.
This also highlighted one of the big achievements of the retired chief justice Willy Mutunga. He said that these minor traffic offences should not be treated like criminal offences and should be discharged quickly and honorably. About one year ago I had a similar encounter with traffic police from Makuyu who mishandled me for asking for evidence of the speed they accused me of. I was branded rude, handcuffed and unceremoniously carted to court. When they magistrate asked if I was guilty (of which I was not) I recalled the story of one of my colleagues who swore never to plead ‘not guilty’. He ended up going to court 4 times and it was only during his fifth court appearance that he asked the magistrate to throw out the case because evidence was never produced and the policeman never appeared. But he had wasted 5 mornings going to court. That calculation was ringing in my head. Of course I gave the Makuyu head of police a piece of my mind.
This raised several fundamental questions that may need to be highlighted. I will in the near future have debates at the KMA Auditorium on various issues. I have got the first one here and will invite stakeholders for a 1 hour debate hosted by yours truly to address such issues.
My questions following this incident are:
- Should a Super Highway like Thika Superhighway have a speed limit of 50kph? In my thinking I think the colonial officers (being British at the time) meant 50 miles an hour. It does not make any sense to have a speed limit of 50KPH at Muthaiga where there is a bridge for pedestrians to cross in.
- Should we really invest in resources (speed guns, policemen, NTSA staff) to surprise hard working Kenyans at hidden corners termed 50kph places). I think there are bigger road safety activities to do, though if you are NTSA and you are looking at it from a revenue point of view, your view may be different. But does it improve safety in the long run? Raw data has it that accidents do not occur because drivers are moving at >50kph.
My take is that NTSA should stop punishing those who wake up early and move out of this congested town to serve Kenyans elsewhere. Infact they should encourage people to drive fast OUT of Nairobi.
Wacha niskie kama magistrate atakubaliana na mimi Monday.