Why paying fine by phone is sure to be fun

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore (second right) and Chief Justice Willy Mutunga (centre) are shown how the Faini Chap Chap service works by court accountant Carol Ochieng’ during its launch at the Kibera Law Courts in Nairobi on September 20, 2012. Faini Chap Chap is an M-Pesa pay-bill service that will enable convicted traffic offenders pay their fines immediately. Photo/SALATON NJAU  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By AGGREY MUTAMBO amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, September 20  2012 at  22:30

In Summary

Milestones in judicial reforms

• You can now down-load important court forms on the judiciary website for free. Before this, people used to pay a fee.
• Online customer care system introduced. Email servicedesk@judiciaty.go.ke or sms an enquiry to 5834.
• Twitter and Facebook presence to interact with people
• Office of the Ombudsman to respond to complaints.
• Electronic access to case records
• Recruitment of more judges
• Introduction of typing bureaus to help lawyers respond to rulings
• Judges and magistrates have computers and other technological gadgets
• Payment of traffic offences through M-Pesa
• Mobile courts (coming soon)

On Nairobi’s Haile Selassie Avenue, a matatu hits another’s rear on Wednesday evening, smashing its tail-lights.

The drivers emerge, assess the damage and make a deal. A transaction is made and the two vehicles speed away, again dangerously. They are avoiding the attention of the police.

This has become the norm. Drivers in Nairobi are known to be always in a hurry; they change lanes dangerously at high speeds, wear no seat belt, climb over pedestrian walkways or even use the wrong lanes.

But they must do all that while ensuring they don’t land in court for a traffic charge.

Traffic offences usually come with a Sh5,000 fine or six months imprisonment. The process of paying that fine is often more punitive than the fine itself.

Even the Judiciary admits this.

Pinch on the wallet

“Despite one pleading guilty and being fined, the process of paying the fine is more excruciating than the pinch on the wallet,” says Judiciary Registrar Gladys Shollei.

The matatu drivers the Nation saw on Wednesday would rather agree on how to repair the damaged vehicle than start arguing and risk attracting the attention of police.

Now, this torture is set to end.

In a new plan launched on Thursday, traffic offenders would now pay court fines through M-Pesa.

The new method is set to replace an age-old payment system that made it impossible to pay a fine without first paying a bribe.

Once you are fined for, say, driving beyond the legal speed, you will now whip out your phone and “pay the bill.”

It works in six simple steps. You go to M-Pesa menu, enter the bill number, which is 583400, then dial in your account number. This number involves your court station code, case or file number.

Once you have done that, just enter the amount you are paying and approve the transaction by entering your pin.

You will receive a confirmation SMS that you have paid, and then the court will set you free.

For a start though, this application will only be possible for those charged in either Kibera or Milimani law courts for traffic offences. Other court stations will be roped in by the end of the year.

In Nairobi where traffic offences is a daily occurrence, this new system is likely to bring relief to motorists.

Initially, you could spend up to three days in jail not for failing to pay Sh1,000 fine, but because the payment had not been completed.

It used to work something like this: You are driving home along the Thika superhighway around midnight.

The police stop you and notice you are not wearing a seat belt. You are taken to Kasarani Police Station.

The following day, you are taken to the Milimani Law courts. You plead guilty before a magistrate six hours later, and you are ready to pay a fine. But you are not free yet.

Someone would have to get a KCB account operated by the Judiciary and run to pay that fine before returning with the bank deposit slip.

The clerk would record the details of the transaction and announce your full name. But wait, you would still be lucky if the bank was still open at the time.

You would be luckier if your file did not disappear. Otherwise, you would languish in jail for another day.

That was just problem number one. Number two was that you would be angry, hungry and you would not report to your daily businesses.

Then there were court clerks who needed to be “facilitated”, as Lady Justice Grace Nzioka, a former principal magistrate at Kibera law courts called bribes.

On Thursday, Ms Shollei said the courts have been trying to establish accountants within their compounds so that offenders are not confined for long.

She still admitted that the demand for “corridor allowances” by some court officials made the procedure complicated.

“The state of chaos also led to corruption at our registries, with the public parting with kitu-not-necessarily-kidongo to be served out of line”,” she confessed.

With the new system, you might as well start to enjoy paying these fines.

Daily Nation