This archive report was first published on 4 August 2019.
Nairobi motorists are facing a raw deal with the introduction of a new parking payment system by City Hall.
The system, which was introduced in June as part of the Internal Revenue Management System (IRMS), requires drivers to make payments using the USSD code 235#.
However, motorists are now facing an extra Sh23 daily in transaction costs, in addition to the Sh200 parking fee they used to pay under the previous eJijiPay system.
According to Peter Musyoki, motorists are being charged an extra Sh23 for every transaction, making the effective parking fee higher than the purported Sh200.
"On paper, the daily parking fee charge is Sh200, but the reality is that we have to pay at least Sh23 extra every day, meaning that in essence the fee is more than the purported Sh200," Musyoki said.
Furthermore, motorists are also being charged a Sh2 fee for navigating through the new short code to pay for the service, and if they do not have airtime, they cannot pay for parking.
"If you do not have airtime, you can't pay for parking. Previously, once you loaded money in the wallet, subsequent payments were free," Musyoki added.
The new system has also been plagued by system glitches, resulting in motorists not receiving confirmation messages after transactions, and some have even had their cars clamped as a result.
City Hall has been criticized for not addressing the extra costs being incurred by motorists, with the Finance and ICT departments passing the buck to each other.
