By Wahome Thuku
The Judiciary will on Thursday launch a system of paying court fines for traffic offences through mobile phones.
The system dubbed Faini chap chap (corrupted Swahili for speedy fines) will be launched this morning by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga at the Kibera Law Courts, Nairobi.
The system, which is a joint venture between the Judiciary and mobile phone service provider Safaricom, will entail paying the fines through the money transfer service M-Pesa. It will initially be rolled out at Kibera and Milimani courts.
Traffic offences are some of the cases from which the Judiciary collects large amounts of cash in fines on daily basis. However, it is also the area where the Judiciary also loses heaviest through defaults by offenders.
Enhanced penalties
The new system is being launched even as Parliament seeks to enhance penalties for traffic offences as a measure to curb the rising number of deaths through road accidents.
The Traffic (Amendment) Bill whose debate ended on Tuesday seeks to impose a fine of between Sh2,000 and Sh5,000 for touting in the public transport sector and heavier penalties for speeding, reckless driving and driving while drunk.
The Judiciary has been working on easing the systems of paying fines.
Crazy Monday
Home & Away
Eve Woman
Generation Next
Sunday Magazine
