Police nab 40 vehicles in crackdown in Bungoma, leave passengers stranded

Written by Daniel Saenyi

An empty matatu terminus at Bungoma town following a police crackdown. Matatu operators Thursday engaged in a hide and seek game with traffic officers in Bungoma town after the law enforcers launched a vicious crackdown to net non-compliant vehicles. The dreaded operation caught the Matatu operators as the traffic officers pounced on the non suspecting drivers and conductors found flouting traffic rules and those avoiding their specified stages and routes. The police nabbed over 40 vehicles and 25 drivers are to be arraigned in court for flouting the traffic regulations. Most of the vehicles caught were found without safety belts or their speed governors were tempered with and some were just un-roadworthy which they actually deserve to be written off. The operation mostly focused on Public Service Vehicles and trucks on the busy Webuye -Malaba highway whereby they were also weighed to ensure that drivers are not overloading the vehicles. The operation was headed by the Provincial traffic officer from Kakamega and this was to be the first of many crackdowns that are coming up. Bungoma Bus station was void of vehicles leaving stranded passengers and transport charges sky rocketing to double the amount for the few vehicles left. Journeys were cut short as some routes barely had no vehicles or motorcycles to ferry passengers. According to some drivers, the police crackdown was not fair as they were not given a notice to be primed. An empty stage. They complained of the police force taking it out on them for not accepting to give them kickbacks. The passengers were an angry lot as most of them were either delayed or missed their prior arrangements. Students were not spared from the effects of the crackdown, some students complained of reporting late for school which had its own consequences. Drivers and conductors were pissed for making losses since they had to maneuver shortcuts just to avoid being caught. This also doubles the amount of fuel consumption and the passengers had to pay extra then, and this obviously caused wiles between the passengers and the conductors. The police have been accused for irresponsibility as the ambush is reckless according to some drivers; it’s easy for them to cause accidents as they try to evade capture. They demanded that the police commissioner Mathew Iteere should come up with different ways of dealing with un-roadworthy vehicles to counter the ambush crackdown routine. However, the Kenya police Deputy O.C.P.D Mr. Mutune Maweu said that they will keep on carrying out these crackdowns in anticipation of ensuring that the roads are safe which will in turn pledge the safety of road users.