City Hall Buckles Under Pressure, Reverts Parking Fee To 200 Shillings

The county government of Nairobi has decided to revert the daily parking fee within the Central Business District to 200 shillings.

Nairobi motorists have been paying 400 shillings since Wednesday, 4th of December 2019, after the county government doubled parking fees within the CBD.

The move to double the parking fees from 200 shillings to 400 shillings was effected on the 4th of December 2019, a move motorists protested.

The doubling of parking fees from 200 shillings to 400 shillings was challenged in court by the Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek) who sued the County Government on grounds that city motorists had not been given reasonable notice as required by the law.

READ: Parking Fee In Nairobi’s CBD Doubled To 400 Shillings

The High Court Judge James Makau directed that the case be heard on the 21st of January 2020.

Nairobi motorists were to pay 200 shillings as the case was yet to be decided on by the High Court but the Nairobi County Government continued charging 400 shillings against the law.

Tom Tinega, the City Hall Director of Parking Services, had earlier said that the Nairobi County Government had not been served with the court order and that it was only done on Monday afternoon.

“Today I have paid 200 shillings for parking after paying 400 shillings for more than three days despite the courts temporarily halting the fee hike, it feels like I was robbed, 400 shillings is exorbitant, ” said Mary Kanyi along Biashara Street.

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A check around the CBD on Wednesday the 11th of December 2019 showed that motorists within the city center were paying 200 shillings as the USSD code was already reflecting the new amount.

This, however, is also challenged by the systems experiencing regular downtimes and sending notifications as follows:

“Sorry, this service is not available right now. Please try again later,” was the response received when Nation dialed *235#.