According to various sources including sand traders and lorry owners, the department lacks necessary equipment for enforcement including the crucial stopping bays for lories fetching building Materials from neighbouring counties of Machakos, Kiambu and Kajiado.
They explained that weighbridges need to be installed on border points to ensure accurate charges for tonnage as opposed to the current situation where they claimed to have been overcharged in some instances. Some sources also disclosed that, inadequate personnel at the department sometimes results in delays during inspection of the lorries hence paving way for some indisciplined lorry owners to forcefully proceed to their destinations in disregard to the laid down procedures of inspection and payment.
The operations at the section has also been adversely affected by the lack of towing vehicles, with officers resorting to hiring, a venture that has been termed expensive to the taxpayer. Further more, the shortage of staff at the department has left various key check points unmanned, paving way for unscrupulous lorry owners to evade payment.
Proper enforcement has become difficult due to unsafe spaces of operations, where staff is sometimes forced to stop lorries in the middle of the highways. Lack of reflector jackets for the staff at the department is another source of concern for the traders who noted that criminals posing as enforcement officers can easily swindle them of their cash, and possible attacks from highway robbers.
They complained that some traders are forced to pay charges for the three county government; from Kajiado, Nairobi to Kiambu while transporting the material, a situation they termed a liability to their business.