Motorists cry foul over rogue parking attendants as fees hiked

By PATRICK KIBET

Nakuru, Kenya: It’s early in the morning and motorists in Nakuru town rush for limited parking space along the busy Kenyatta Avenue and other areas.

County Government workers are busy cleaning the town as parking attendants begin working.

It takes only a few minutes before you see an exasperated motorist gesticulating and others sweating when they realise they have driven themselves into a trap laid by parking attendants notorious for clamping cars.

As soon as one parks one’s car, the county staff disappears only to return to check whether the driver has paid for parking before they quickly clamp it. Many motorists have found their vehicles clamped in this manner by the rogue parking attendants.

The workers, who operate in groups of five, disappear just as magically as they appear after immobilising vehicles. The parking attendants have no apologies and do not talk to anyone, leaving motorists wondering if it is a crime to own a vehicle.

The rogue staff are not interested in the Sh100 parking fee; their target is the Sh1,100 penalty a motorist parts with before they can remove the clamp or the bribe they will get after negotiating with desperate victims.

Abuse of law

Contrary to normal practice where the staff clamp vehicles for failure by motorists to pay parking fees, pulling over for even a minute in Nakuru town is a costly affair.

Motorists who spoke to The Standard on Saturday, said the notorious parking attendants are stationed along the busy Kenyatta Avenue.

Paul Kiprono terms the acts by the county staff robbery.

“It is madness. When I asked them what they were doing to the front tyre of my car while I was still unstrapping the safety belt, one of them threw a Sh1,100 invoice and I looked at the parking attendants closer to see if they were wearing masks. Thieves sometimes have the decency to put on masks while robbing people,” said Mr Kiprono.

The complaints raised by motorists stem from blatant abuse of the law by the parking attendants.

Jane, who was waiting for a friend in the parking bay of Merica Hotel on Monday, got a rude shock when parking attendants arrested her for obstruction. She had pulled over for less than a minute when the officers started clamping her car.

“I pulled over outside the hotel as I waited to pick a friend. In less than five minutes, the parking attendants were all over my car even after I tried to reason with them. But they wouldn’t hear any of it. They clamped my car and booked me at the municipal cells,” Jane explained.

Geoffrey Kamau’s experience was even worse. While asking a Merica guard where he could park his vehicle, an armed parking enforcement officer drew his pistol and told him to head to their station, where they detain vehicles.

“It has never happened before; maybe it is their new way of operation,” he said after negotiating his way out.

Most victims who have been detained by the askaris and had their vehicles towed have ended up paying up to Sh3,000 after spending almost six hours at the courts.

“I was taking my child to Moi High School Kabarak for admission. But I had to spend six hours sorting out this madness,” he said.

Mary Kinyori, who witnessed the ordeal, said the county askaris were harassing motorists even when it was clear no by-laws had been flouted.

“These officers seem determined to arrest motorists rather than collect parking fees. The county government should create more parking space if they are targeting more money, not harass motorists,” she noted.

The parking attendants decline bribes from some motorists and send them to the cells.

Another victim, Henry Omukol, said he had parked his vehicle outside Equity Bank, Kenyatta Avenue, and gone to an ATM machine to withdraw some money as his son waited in the car only to come out and find a parking attendant busy clamping the front tyre.

“I had not even finished five minutes and they emerged from nowhere and quickly clamped my vehicle as if I was a runaway criminal. This is more than raising revenue; I have all the receipts to show I usually pay my parking fee but these people do not give anyone an ear. They are roguish and unprofessional,” said Mr Omukol.

He said efforts to ask the staff about their mode of operation were met with silence as each one pretended to have received a phone call and walked away.

Protest

“You see how they are impounding vehicles here? They have now completed their day’s job, they don’t care because the person who has the keys to open these chains is a different one operating on a motor bike,” said a vendor who witnessed the incident.

Like many others before him, Omukol went straight to the Nakuru County Council’s offices to protest.

Instead of being directed to the cash office to pay the mandatory Sh1,100 penalty to have the car released, he was kept waiting as the officers dealt with other “urgent” cases.

But Barnabas Ngunjiri had no time for the rogue parking attendants. He stepped out of the ATM machine, and on noticing the clamp on the front tyre he picked a metal bar from his boot and broke the chains. “They can go to hell, these mad people,” he said as he reversed his car and sped off.

For Sammy Kibet, his vehicle was impounded by the county askaris after he alighted to buy something from a shop. He was headed for Eldoret.

Nakuru County Revenue head, Salome Ng’ang’a, said the county government will not relent in its bid to collect taxes, especially from the town’s designated parking areas.

“Our officers in the field are doing their work and whoever finds themselves in the wrong should follow the law before being set free. I agree that some people are finding it hard to cope with our new regulations but we will stick to them as a way of raising revenue,” she said.