The Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha) has slapped a truck driver with a Sh13.9 million fine for violating axle load regulations on Mombasa road.
The truck that was carrying sand was stopped by Kenha officers and the Axle Load Enforcement and Highways Unit police officers on Thursday night on Mombasa road.
The truck was found to have exceeded the normal weight of between 54,000kg and 78,740kg, which attracted a Sh13,987,323 fine under the East Africa Community Vehicle Load Act, 2016.
While addressing the press at Mlolongo Weighbridge on Monday, the Officer Commanding the Axle Load Enforcement and Highways Unit, Senior Superintendent of Police John Gichohi, said the police were forced to shoot in the air to scare away rowdy youths who tried to free the vehicle.
“Goons tried to use unorthodox means to free the vehicle. They rammed the truck with another vehicle to immobilise it but our officers managed to tow the vehicle to the weighbridge,” Mr Gichohi said.
He said the police will continue working with other relevant authorities to protect the roads despite intimidation from a few selfish individuals.
“We will implement the law and no amount of intimidation will stop us,” he added.
Kenha Axle Load Senior Engineer Kennedy Ndugire said the agency will do everything to protect roads from overloaded trucks.
He said the Regional Trunk Road Network stretching from Mombasa to Malaba is protected under the East African Community Vehicle Load Control Act, 2016, which stipulates that an overloaded truck will be charged a fine for excess cargo, which will also be unloaded before it is allowed to continue with its journey.
“We receive at least 100 cases of overloading on our roads daily. Some cases end up in court. Trucks plying regional trunk road networks are fined at the weighbridges,” he said.
Mr Ndugire said the truck will be charged a parking fee of 50 dollars a day.
“We will not relent in protecting our roads. In 60 days, if the owner will not have paid the fine, he will be deemed to have forfeited the vehicle to the state and Kenha will get a court order to sell the vehicle,” he said.
At the Mlolongo weighbridge, several river sand transport trucks have been grounded for floating the axle regulations. Kenha has classified Kajiado-Mashuru and Garissa roads among roads at high risk from sand trucks that operate at night.
The overloaded trucks use other smaller roads to evade the mobile weighbridges.
