NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 1- Hundreds of motorists were left stranded along the Thika Super highway on Saturday evening, after they were caught outside past the designated curfew hours of 10pm to 4am.
The motorists according to police, “intentionally defied curfew guidelines but later pleaded ignorance despite what is expected of them.”
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe recently announced that the country was not yet out of the woods with cases of COVID-19 infections steadily increasing.
Concerns of the delta variant were also raised with Kenyans being advised to adhere to the strict guidelines to avert the spread of the global pandemic.
Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai has since directed all county commanders to enforce traffic rules and apprehend Kenyans found outside the designated hours with the exemption of those identified as essential service providers.
Hundreds of Motorists along Thika Raod were forced to spend several hours on the road, with police maintaining that they will spend the night in the cold.
“Some of these things are avoidable…what time does curfew starts? why should you be out at this time?,” posed Kasarani Sub-County Police Commander Peter Mwanzo.
“We are at work, this is critical work. It was announced that we are in a bad state as a nation, people were told to obey curfew guidelines, we expected people to listen and obey but they took things very casually,” said Mwanzo.
Some essential services providers such as ambulance drivers were forced to spend close to an hour on the road after the highway was cordoned off.
Police however later opened the inner lane of the highway to facilitate them to use the road, as other motorists forcefully maneuvered their way. This resulted to a number of accidents according to police.
“Regarding essential service providers, we have managed to create at least one lane so that essential service providers use the inner lane but the motorists were very arrogant and it made things very chaotic…we said this is for the ambulance but drunk people start using it and even hit other cars,” he said.
“Most people were outside and had just come from having fun…we will not allow that past 10pm.”
A section of motorists meanwhile accused police of causing the confusion despite providing documents to indicate they are essential service providers.
“I am an essential service provider and I was affected. They should at least have left one lane open so that we could pass. Those defying rules then must suffer the consequences,” a motorist who spoke to Shahidi News said.
Another despite being caught on the road past 10pm pleaded with police to give them an allowance of at least 30 minutes.
“They closed the road at 10:10pm…this is uncouth behaviour and when you try to explain yourself they don’t want to listen,” another said. “Where are we going to sleep? how can we sleep on the road?”
It took the intervention of the Nairobi regional police commander Augustine Nthumbi to give an alternative directive.
The roads were opened up but police warned motorists that the act of mercy would not be replicated another day.
“You know when the curfew starts, follow the law,” said Nthumbi while addressing stranded motorists.
The operation is expected to be conducted on Sunday and following days, across all major roads in the country.
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