The High Court has been urged to push the legislature to change traffic laws to save Kenyans from paying penalties that have been unlawfully authorised.
Appearing before Justice Grace Ngenye, City Lawyer Allen Gichuhi stated that Kenyans have been paying billions of shillings for many traffic charges that are identical, contrary to the new Constitution.
The lawyer said that an offence of speeding is incorrectly entered on the charge sheet and an ignorant motorist ends up paying more than Sh300 .
Gichuhi said that the duplication of charge sheets by the prosecution is unconstitutional since it imposes unlawful penalties on Citizens.
The lawyer was making submissions in an application seeking to dispute traffic laws under which motorists are charged and penalized.
According to Gichuhi’s client Ankush Manoj Shah, the prosecution has continuously applied laws which have not been repealed.
The lawyer argued that Shah was charged on 28 August 2014 before traffic court, Nairobi but declined to plead to the charges as they were duplicated thus attracting more penalties.
“Citizens have been exposed to an illegal penalty and deprived them their right to property as provided for under section 40 of the Constitution,” the lawyer argued.
He said that the Traffic’s Minor Offences rules of 1975 were last repealed in 1984, saying the same has not been amended thus giving arise to severe bail terms imposed on citizens who end up unlawfully put in remand .
The court will deliver its judgment on November 29.