Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has appeared to contradict Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai on how to deal with excess passengers.
Last Thursday, Mutyambai ordered that all passengers found in public service vehicles to be in excess, especially at this festive season, be arrested and dealt with as per the law.
According to People Daily, Haji now says that such would be in contravention of the law, saying that the burden of carrying excess lies on the shoulders of the vehicle's owner, driver and conductor.
He says that unless the passenger defied calls to alight from the vehicle, then they cannot be held responsible, as is contained under section 100(2) of the traffic act.
"Although this could be a deterrent measure to the public travelling as excess passengers in PSVs, caution must be exercised," he said on Wednesday.
He said that the police should be extra careful while addressing such cases, as it is very hard to know who between the PSV crew and passengers are at fault.
He added that its the job of the crew to regulate the number of passengers getting into public service vehicles and not that of the commuters.
However, despite attempts by the police to secure the roads during the festive season, a number of accidents have been reported.