Tinted car windows and contempt for the law.

When the Inspector-General ordered all cars with tinted windows to be impounded, citing the Traffic Act as his justification, and one of his lackeys walked back his order, clarifying that applied only to public service vehicles, it highlighted the striking contempt for the law that Kenyans have. The Traffic Act does outlaw tinted windows for PSVs; the Traffic Rules, 1953, at rule 30, outlaw tinted windows for all vehicles. However, there is the law and what people are prepared to comply with.

Motorists are some of the most notorious contemnors of the law in Kenya. The legendary traffic jams in Nairobi and Mombasa are a demonstration that all motorists are laws unto themselves; their desire to make their destinations in the shortest period of time possible, the rules of the road be damned, demonstrates that while the State might make all the laws it wants for the safety and convenience of all Kenyans, some of the laws' implementation will be sabotaged without the fear of sanction.

While the Inspector-General's order seems of a piece with the knee-jerk responses of government agencies to events, the existence of the non-tint rule refuses to accept the reality about law enforcement in Kenya. The Inspector-General himself reflected this collective contempt for petty rules when he indicated that he would not arrest the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior and deliver him before the court on charges of contempt because it would be an embarrassment. It is not the law that is a problem but its enforcement.

Kenya is becoming notorious for making rules that cannot be enforced. The reasoning behind the making of the rules may seem logical at first glance, but the reality of their enforcement is rarely considered. The non-tint rule, rather than being enforced, is likely, in Kenyans' minds, to be an avenue for police extortion. Many claim that the Alcoblow rule has turned motorists into ATMs, though the hundreds of motorists arraigned in court and fined would seem to belie this comfortable urban legend.

The safety of road users is important. Many road users are employers and employees. The man hours spent after a road traffic accident are a loss to the employer, employee and economy alike. Enhancing road safety will have demonstrable and verifiable benefits. But for road safety to be enhanced, the law must not be treated with contempt. If it is unlawful to have tinted windows on vehicles, then the rule must be enforced without fear or favour. Inspector-General Kimaiyo and the National Police Service must be prepared to haul in Cabinet Secretaries, their Principal Secretaries and the high and mighty just as they will surely haul in all the hoi polloi who cock a snook at the law. If the Inspector-General is prepared to ignore the potential embarrassment he will cause the National Executive in the execution of his order, he might be surprised at the goodwill his action will engender in the wider motoring public. If he is not prepared to do the right thing, he should be prepared for the contemptuous resistance his order will face.