If you are observant on the road, you will have noticed traffic police mounting checkpoints on various roads, often stopping matatus for barely a second.
This ritual, which sees a conductor give the police officers some money, ranging from Ksh50 to Ksh200 in some areas, is often to avoid a push and pull between police and public service vehicles. However, the practice is running out of control and has now turned into a full-fledged extortion ring, according to the Motorists Association of Kenya.
The lobby group, in a scathing statement, condemned what it termed as rampant extortion, abuse of power, and intimidation tactics being perpetrated by rogue officers within the National Police Service under the guise of traffic enforcement.
In a statement released on Monday, the association expressed outrage over the transformation of traffic policing from a public safety service to a predatory enterprise that harasses and extorts ordinary Kenyans.
