Public participation in the proposed Railways Bill 2024 on Friday, August 30, 2024, continued in Kitale, with individuals submitting their views on the bill which seeks to impose hefty punishment on petty offenders.
Section C of the bill states that: “A person who steals spare parts or component of a train operation facility installed on a railway line or equipment or material attached to a railway line, thus endangering the safe operation of the train; commits an offence and shall be liable upon conviction to imprisonment for life.”
On Thursday, August 29, participants from Laikipia County decried the terms of the new bill offering that it be reduced to at least one year in prison.
The public also noted that if passed, several scrap metal dealers could find themselves serving life sentences, yet petty offenders should not spend the rest of their lives in jail.
The other contentious part of the Railways Bill 2024 is its proposal to punish passengers who forge travel tickets with up to 10 years imprisonment.
Laikipia residents lamented the hefty fines imposed on the wrongdoers, urging the railway body to consider lowering their charges to disincentivise such offences.
Railways offenders
In their defence, Brenda Mwango who is a legal advisor at Kenya Railways noted that for a train carrying close to 1,000 passengers, a vandal that causes its derailment could lead to the perishing of many individuals hence justifying the imprisonment.
“It should be very clear in the law that acts that may cause massive deaths attract severe punishment,” Jonathan Kilelo, a safety engineer at Kenya Railways said during the event.
Among other changes the bill seeks to effect are to repeal the Kenya Railways Act and split the state corporation into two distinct, independent but interdependent units- Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) and the Railways Regulatory Authority (RRA).
KRC shall be tasked with the railway infrastructure network and other commercial logistics hubs across the country while RRA shall offer advisory roles to the Cabinet Secretary of Transport on economic regulation, registration and licensing of train managers among others.
The bill will also open the space for private investors to build and operate railway lines across the country, ending the monopoly of government that has been in place for decades.
The Railways Regulatory Authority will, however, be in charge of guidelines right from construction to the daily operations of the trains that could revolutionise the transport industry.
