Inspector General (IG) of Police Hillary Mutyambai has directed traffic police officers to remove all unauthorised road blocks from Kenyan roads.
Mutyambai noted that action will be taken against officers erecting roads blocks or conducting traffic checks without permission from their seniors.The directive implies that only road blocks approved by regional commanders will be allowed to operate in different parts of the country. According to the IG, the decision was made after they received numerous complainants from road users. Traffic officers had been given until Wednesday (June 19, 2019) to comply with the new directive, failure to which an unspecified action was expected to be taken against them.Confirming the changes, Western Region police commander Rashid Yakub said traffic officers were ready to comply with the new regulations. “We are no longer going to have traffic police officers on the roads for the sake of it. We have established that all the officers do is harass motorists and collect bribes of Sh50 and Sh100 from them while pretending they are enforcing traffic rules,” said Mr Yakub, as quoted by Daily Nation.