Top Ten Tuesdays (#TTT): Downtown Bylaws You May Not Be Aware Of

There are over 150 rules and regulations on the Council’s website governing parking, waste management, hawking, retail shops, health and other areas within the City.

We went through the bylaws listed there and picked out some for your enjoyment and education.

1: Digging for gold, Spitting and Blowing your nose using unsuitable material

If you you have a tickle in your nose, don’t think of sticking that finger up in there lest you be arrested! Also, find yourself a suitable hankie, newspapers and fingers don’t count!

2: Unclogging your drainage system… (no not in that way)

Call the City Council officials. It’s illegal to unclog your own drainage system. Bear with the stench and inconvenience and call your local kanjo

3: Every building should be painted at least once every year.

If only this were ever true. Even some ‘up market hotels’ have been due for a new coat of paint months after they were put up.

4: Hawkers must have badges…

Even those chaps screaming “dawa ya mende ya panya na kokroash” should have their names and hawker license numbers in a visible area on their person. Will it ever happen? We highly doubt it.

5: Signaling guiding or directing a driver of a vehicle into or out of a parking place.

If you ever get the urge to help a friend out of or into a parking spot, stop and obey the law! They may assume that you are a parking boy, cuff you and toss you into the back of their dreaded pick ups. Let him/her suffer the agony of craning their neck to see whether they’re about to knock that adjacent Range Rover.

6: You have the right to demand for an officer to identify him/herself through an appointment certificate, or through the name and number normally pinned on their uniform.

Despite how glaringly obvious this should be Nairobi residents rarely ever ask arresting officers for their badge number. They almost always ask however, how much it will cost to make the problem/crime ‘go away’.

7: In case the City Council askari asks you to pay for parking on Saturday Afternoon…

Parking is free from 2.00 pm on Saturdays, all day Sunday and on Public Holidays. Dont give them your hard earned cash!

8: Go bumm in the park!

Idle-sitting other than in recreational places such as Uhuru Park, Central Park, City Park and Jeevanjee Gardens etc. is illegal and so is leaning against flower pots, no matter how comfortable they may look.

 

9: No talking or playing on footpaths or pavements.

You’ve just met your friend randomly in town after 6 years. Do you stop for a quick chat on the street? No, find somewhere else to have your little meet up. Obstructing foot traffic is an offence in Nairobi.

10: Interfering with writing or marking on a perking ticket.

Wow! How far they have come. They issue perking tickets! We guess it’s fine to deface parking tickets then.

Disclaimer: UP Magazine does not accept responsibility for any one who actually does write on their parking tickets.

 

 

 

Photocredit: Kenya Forum