Reprieve for Nairobi motorists as CBD parking fee reverted to Sh200
Nairobi county government has reverted daily parking fee within the city’s Central Business District to Sh200.
The motorists have been paying Sh400 since Wednesday last week following the county government’s move to double parking fees within the city centre from Sh200 to Sh400 effective December 4, 2019.
HIGH COURT ORDER
However, the move was challenged in court by the Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek) who sued City Hall on the grounds that city motorists were not given sufficient notice by City Hall as required by law.
High Court Judge James Makau stayed implementation of the announcement until the hearing and determination of the petition. He directed that the case be heard on January 21, 2020.
Following the order, motorists were to revert to the old rate of Sh200 daily fee as they await the ruling on the matter.
But despite the High Court order, motorists continued to pay Sh400 daily parking fee within Nairobi’s CBD.
City Hall Director of Parking Services Tom Tinega had said the county had not been served with the court order and that was only done on Monday afternoon.
A spot check by the Nation on Tuesday morning established that motorists in the city centre were paying the old rate of Sh200.
“Yes, today I have paid Sh200 for parking after more than three days of paying Sh400 for the same service despite the courts temporarily halting the fee hike,” said John Ouma along Banda Street.
SYSTEM DOWNTIME
Another motorist, who had parked his vehicle along Kenyatta Avenue in the city centre, also said he had paid a fee of Sh200.
“I have just paid the Sh200 and it seems the USSD code has already been updated to reflect the new amount,” he said.
When Nation tried later on to pay for parking, the system seemed to be experiencing downtime challenges with the transaction unable to be completed.
“Sorry, this service is not available right now. Please try again later,” was the response received when Nation dialed *235#.
On Tuesday, Cofek had threatened to sue the county government once again for contempt of court, accusing City Hall of disregarding an existing court order by continuing to charge the new fees.
Cofek Secretary General, Stephen Mutoro, had also intimated that they will be agitating for the county to compensate those who have suffered loss while paying more for daily parking fee in accordance with Article 46 of the Constitution of Kenya.