When traffic cops lose their lifelines, lives are in danger

Police officers manning road tolls in Mombasa are reported to have shot at anti-corruption officials who busted their thieving ways early in the week.

This could be the one instance when they might be legitimised in using fire power. After all, the cops’ lives were in danger because someone had threatened to sever their lifeline.

In Mlolongo, the boys in blue manning the toll stations were frisked by anti-corruption officials. They were found to be flush with cash; a cool Sh86,000 was retrieved after only a few hours of operation. The major weighbridges are estimated to net Sh300,000 daily and quite understandably, all transactions are in cash.

But the cops on the roads are merely conduits for a larger cartel. There are larger forces at play, from the bosses who decide who is to be deployed on the road, to the sums to be surcharged on every vehicle.

For their trouble, top cops get their fair share of the loot, so it is unfair to nab the juniors on the road and let the fat cats get away. In any case, they must eat the largest chunk, and so must provide leadership by showing their juniors how to extricate themselves from the mess they have plunged into.