Tuk tuk drivers in Nakuru are lamenting alleged harassment by traffic police officers.
The operators said that traffic police, along areas such as Upper Hill along the Nakuru-Bahati route, Section 58, and at EverReady roundabout, demand Sh50 from every tuk tuk.
“Working here has become very difficult. It doesn’t matter whether you have any mistake or not, you must part with Sh50 every time you pass them. If you don’t do that, you are attracting trouble,” John Maina said.
Maina said when he was new in the business; he refused to bribe the officer because he did not understand ‘how things work here’.
The result was harassment and frustration from the officers.
“They said I had not adhered to traffic rules by overtaking along a continuous yellow line. And there was nothing like that,” he said.
A spot check by this writer proved the allegations.One officer was handed Sh200 by an operator, he deducted ‘his’ Sh50 and gave back a change of Sh150.
“What can we do? You let them take and continue with your job or you choose to attract trouble and they get you out of business,” the operator said in a resigned tone.