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Corruption within the traffic police force has been a significant and persistent challenge for decades. Officers openly solicit bribes, commonly known as “chai”, at roadblocks and checkpoints. This practice is so widespread that many Kenyans are resigned to it as a routine on our roads.

Several contributing factors have been cited for this culture of small-scale bribery. They include low police salaries that experts say create incentives for officers to seek supplemental income through bribes.

To fight corruption in traffic enforcement and boost the morale of police officers, the National Police Service Commission has tried reforms, including increasing police salaries. But the practice persists.

The government has implemented police salary increases, with several rounds of raises happening between 2015 and 2022. But the impact of these raises has been less significant than what officials and the public hoped.

Part of the challenge is that while base salaries were increased, many officers argue that the raises haven’t kept pace with Kenya’s rising cost of living, particularly in urban areas like Nairobi where housing and food costs have risen sharply in recent years.

What’s more, salary increases alone didn’t address other systemic issues that contribute to corruption, including deeply entrenched informal systems where bribes are shared up the police command chain and public expectation – and sometimes preference – for paying bribes rather than dealing with formal procedures.

It has been suggested that the police bribery system is so institutionalised that even officers who want to operate honestly face pressure from colleagues and superiors to participate in the informal payment system.

Agents from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission occasionally hold sting operations to catch bribe-taking officers. On Thursday, for example, the agency reported that nine officers in three counties were arrested in the last week of December for extorting money from motorists.

But the EACC’s sting operations have had limited impact on systemic corruption in traffic policing, despite some high-profile arrests. While these operations occasionally catch individual officers and generate media attention, they haven’t created sustained behavioural change.

This is partly because the operations happen infrequently and are predictable, with officers often sharing information about EACC presence in certain areas. This leads to temporary changes in behaviour rather than lasting reform.

There’s also an issue with prosecution and consequences. Even when officers are caught in sting operations, cases often drag on in courts or result in relatively minor penalties, reducing the deterrent effect.

The EACC’s limited resources also mean that it can only conduct a small number of operations. With thousands of traffic police officers across Kenya and numerous checkpoints, the chances of being caught in a sting operation remain quite low for any individual officer.

Can Kenya do better to combat traffic police corruption? Several anti-corruption strategies have been proposed. Two are more promising: digital payment systems for traffic fines that would eliminate cash transactions between officers and drivers, and requiring officers to wear body cameras.