Motorists Will Be Jailed For 6 Months For Evading Highway Toll Fee

Kenyan motorists who will drive via toll stations without paying the required fees will be jailed for six months or be made to pay a fine of 50,000 shillings.

Members of Parliament in Kenya have paved the way for the government to introduce the pay-for-use roads in Kenya meaning motorists will be required to pay to drive on certain roads in the country.

The introduction of the toll fees for motorists is contained in the Finance Bill 2020. It is set to become effective from July 1, 2020. The government is already constructing toll stations where people will be required to pay before being allowed through.

According to the Bill, Kenyans who will drive through the toll station without stopping and paying will be arrested, jailed for six months, or be made to pay a fine of 50,000 shillings or face both.

Initially, the penalty had been set at 5,000 shillings but the National Assembly’s Finance and National Planning Committee revised the Public Roads Toll Act, increasing the penalty to 50,000 shillings.

“The amendment seeks to enhance the penalty for failure or fraudulently passing through a toll station without paying or failure to use the designated route for passage through a toll station,” Joseph Limo, who chairs the committee, said in a report on the Finance Bill, 2020.

The government says it is putting in place the legal mechanisms that will ensure that the toll fees implementation is effected as soon as possible. The mechanisms are expected to be completed by July 1, 2020.

Motorists driving along Nairobi-Nakuru, Nairobi-Mombasa, Nairobi-Thika, and the Southern Bypass in Nairobi will be forced to pay the fee before being allowed to drive on the roads.

Kenyans are protesting the move saying the government is not being realistic about making life easy for Kenyans at a time when Covid-19 is sweeping across the country.

Are you ready to pay the government to use the road that your taxes used to construct?