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"content": "be processed through the Second Reading, so that they can go to the Committee Stage in the order in which they appeared before the House, I discussed this with Mr. Midiwo and we thought that the best thing would be to let this Bill be processed. We can then harmonize the two at the Committee Stage hopefully in the near future. The two Bills basically seek to bring order to the transport sector. They are seeking to ensure that people who do not observe order in terms of traffic laws are made to pay for their omissions and commissions in a way that will deter them from repeating the same mistakes in future. Looking at this Bill, we hoped today that it would come hot on the heels of the Committee Stage on the National Transport and Safety (Authority) Bill, which has been deferred. I am sure at the Committee Stage, we will harmonize them. This will create the institutional framework for the implementation of this Bill. The good thing is that this House had an opportunity to discuss most of the issues that have to do with the fines required and the issues related to traffic management within the framework of the first Bill that was brought by Mr. Midiwo, and I thank him for that. Since our Bill was delayed, Mr. Midiwo took the opportunity and brought a Bill to the House. His has 15 clauses and ours has 47 clauses. I do not intend to take hon. Members through the 47 Clauses, because for most of them, once you agree on principle, the rest are details and can be dealt within the Committee. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Bill intends to really look at all the penalties that appear within our laws, in terms of traffic offences, which have not been updated for a long time. Under the existing economics and with the number of vehicles having grown from what we had in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, we are now talking of millions of drivers on the roads and new means of transport that we did not have before. Is it not time we actually looked at bringing all those fines into reality in terms of an amount that will be deterrent enough for a person not to repeat the offence? The cost of administering some of these fines also goes beyond even the fine that is required. People are then tempted to negotiate on the roadside with the enforcers, because if you are dragged to court where you will pay, say, Kshs500. Given the time, cost and all those things, people will then argue that, perhaps, it is easier to negotiate with your challenger and pay the same Kshs500 on the spot, but obviously, without the benefit of indicating to the official system. That is really the essence of this Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we believe that in addition to having the institutional structures to manage this, deterrence is, obviously, one of the ways we are going to ensure that people obey the law. That is for those who flout it. Basically, we are imposing some reasonable penalties, again, in keeping with the rate of inflation. We are making them more stringent to address the issues of impunity on our roads and more importantly, again, to ensure that those who flout the rules will feel the pinch and not repeat the same thing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in terms of the various causes, again, we have gone through literary every item within the Traffic Act and amended it. Mainly, anything that is Kshs1,000 has moved to Kshs10,000. That is the multiplier that we will be looking at. Again, also, we will be looking at the other fines and the benefit of review by all the stakeholders, including from the Attorney-General’s Office, Traffic Police and all the people. We will have the benefit of getting through the Committee on Transport,"
}