EDITORIAL: TRAFFIC OPERATION RAISES SOME PERTINENT QUESTIONS

The nationwide operation by traffic police to collect unpaid traffic fines has understandably been received with mixed feelings. However, the chorus of complaints appears to be much louder than the hushed voices praising the operation, which began last week.

While traffic police have every right to collect billions of shillings in unpaid traffic fines, it is the tactics they are using that have raised eyebrows. There are reports of police going as far as visiting parking lots and garages to search for vehicles with outstanding traffic fines.

Those with unpaid fines have their registration number plates removed to compel their owners to turn up at police stations, where they are given the option of either paying up immediately or cooling their heels in police cells as they await further action.

This, needless to say, has not gone down well with vehicle owners and motorists. The argument here is that traffic police are brazenly overstepping their authority by hunting for defiant traffic offenders anywhere they deem fit, including private premises.

This astonishing zeal and energy that has been seen among traffic police in the past week or so also creates an impression of desperation – that the authorities want to lay their hands on Sh12 billion in unpaid traffic fines at any cost and within the shortest time possible. Indeed, the operation has paid off in a big way with Sh1.4 billion having been collected countrywide in less that a week, according to traffic police commander Wilbroad Mutafungwa.

As for motorists, this sort of inconvenience can be avoided if they pay their fines within the prescribed seven-day grace period, although there are widespread complaints that traffic police have been imposing penalties for nonexistent offences.

It is beyond debate that while some of the fines are imposed fairly, others are not, and lend credence to claims that motorists have become an important source of government revenue.


ADDRESS MYCOTOXINS threat

Millions of people throughout the country are at risk of poisoning by substances found in the maize, cassava and groundnuts they eat every day. New research findings reveal the existence of mycotoxins, which are highly toxic substances produced by fungi in various staple foods.

What makes it difficult to control this problem is the fact that the chain through which the substances spread is wide. Contamination in crops starts in farmyards, where the fungi, which live in the soil, produce the chemical. It also goes through storage and then to consumers through the market.

These substances are linked with cancer of the oesophagus—the tube that connects the throat to the stomach. It is also associated with retarded growth in children, suppression of the immune system, liver disease and ultimately death.

The damage to children who feed on staples contaminated by mycotoxins is irreversible. They suffer both mental and physical health effects that they have to live with for the rest of their lives.

If the country is to develop appropriate control strategies, our farmers—most of them engaged in subsistence farming—should be aware of these research findings. That way, they can begin to counter the effects of mycotoxins.