DRIVER BEWARE: Here’s How Rogue Traffic Cops Are Minting Millions from Your Hard Earned Cash

A social media user has come out guns blazing with an expose of how some traffic cops are swindling clueless drivers. The Facebook user, Kavuttih Matthias Kings, in a detailed post narrates his experience with cops between Kericho and Kisumu last week Wednesday.
His post has since gone viral, as more victims came out to share their similar experiences.
This was his post:
I was fooled and smoothly robbed by rogue police between Kericho and Kisumu on April 6th 2016 at about 1300hrs (just after Moi Kipsitet Girls, which is a 50km/h speed limit zone). These are the dirty tricks that a gang of about 10 officers apply to steal from clueless drivers:
1. They have someone positioned a kilometer or so before their fake police check position. This contact calls them giving them the plate numbers of all/most vehicles coming towards them.
2. When you arrive at the spot they wave you down and one of them asks you for your driving licence, and starts walking away as they inform you that you were over-speeding. (They claimed I was doing 110km/h instead of 50km/h. When you imagine 110km/h at a market place full of pedestrians, cattle and speed-bumps, it does not add up. SMH).
3. They have a receipt book which they claim is legal, and is used for cash bail. Problem is the receipts have no stamps, no signature, whether yours or of the officer who charged you.
4. None of the officers has any identification numbers on them, as is required by law, nor do they care about producing any form of identification.
5. They have a book where they write the plate numbers as given via phone by their contact person. They have no speed guns. If by chance you escaped the attention of the contact person, the police quickly scribble down your plate number as they wave you down and proceed to purport that you were driving at an impossible speed.
6. If you cooperate with them you could bribe them for anything between KES200 and KES3,000. This depends on 2 things – the apparent age of your car, and your attitude. Needless to say, if your car is old, you get away with a smaller bribe. Woe to you if your car is new (if you have a new or posh car, you definitely have a fatter wallet, and you should therefore share it’s content with them, against your will). If you have a “wrong” attitude, such as wanting to know exactly where you were over-speeding, any speed-gun evidence, any police identification…boy, you are getting yourself into dung.
7. If you are not wiling to bribe them, then you pay KES5,000 cash bail, and they give you a receipt, a fake receipt. As earlier said, no stamp, no signatures, and therefore it is invalid. They claim that you should go to court on a particular date, but if you do, the receipt won’t help you, because as far as they are concerned, you forged it, and you DID NOT pay any cash bail to nobody.
I saw drivers who just drove away when waved down, (perhaps they had been here before) and that’s the only way you’d escape being robbed by this rogue police. Alternatively, you should not give them your DL, because if you do, you will have to buy it back, way more expensively than your renewal fees for 3 years.
Like every victim of injustice, I feel abused, demoralized and insulted, and I am left with 2 choices: whine about it all day long, or accept that our police is irredeemable and move on, joyfully.
I am sharing this because I am not alone, and if you are a potential victim, you are more informed than I was. On our way back we saw even more vehicles packed at the same spot, and like everyone with a little more experience, we knew better. Imagine how many vehicles use that part of the road per day: say 200 vehicles, each driver paying an average of KES2000. That’s KES400000 per day, KES2.8m per week!
God Bless Kenya!
Here are some reactions:
John Calvins “They did the same to my family last sunday when were rushing for a burial in Nyanza.They claimed we were overspeeding.130km/h in the last 10 min.They took my big bro to their champer and departed with 5,000.This was somewhere past mahimahiu.”
Benard Mogambi “They tried to do same shit to me but unfortunately I had my phone camera recording and once I told them I had recored the conversation they freaked out and let me go. Could have taken them to court but was travelling”
Remmy Nyongesa These fools ate my 3k. I was naive with a new car. Nowadays I speed past them like no one else’s business.
Julius Weche Wrong. They make over Ksh 200,000/- PER HOUR, which is about Ksh 1.5 million PER DAY
Zack Kirui “I have also been stopped by these police at Muhoroni junction. This was on one of those days when I was not in a hurry and did not do anything above 80 KPH. When they stopped me they claimed I was doing 110KPH… How now? When I insisted to check where my car details were, they had recorded my correct registration number and my vehicle as Nissan. I was driving a Toyota and insisted that the vehicle in question wasn’t mine….. They quickly gave me my DL and let me proceed with the journey”
Martin Tubula Sande “I was a victim thika highway… he did a similar thing of waving me down.. I doubted myself and paid for it… he claimed I was doing 105kmph.”
Silas Kimathi “Same behaviour on Mombasa-Nairobi rd.Exact thing as stated!!”
Temesi Paul Etemesi “The idiots stopped me at the junction to Olkaria claiming I refused to stop at the roadblock yet I hadn’t crossed the spikes. Then they threatened me ati they’ll take me to court nilipe 30k. I told them twende, idiots started fidgeting and formed a small kamukunji as they told me to wait. Then one by one they dispersed wakabaki wawili. They then called me and asked me where I work, I didn’t answer them. I insisted we go to the cop station. Fools fumbled and gave me back my DL”