📸 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.
From the time that the road in his village in Kayuinga was tarmacked, Kiberu has been a happy man. Every morning, he gets up early and spreads his maize to dry on a clean tarmac road. In fact he does not have to remove dust or dirt from his maize anymore. He sells clean maize, and even the flour he makes from it has no dirt or stones.
Last weekend, police suddenly showed up and told Kiberu to remove his maize from the road. He told them that he pays his taxes, and it is his taxes that build roads so he refused. As we speak, the police have arrested Kiberu and put him in police cells.
Has Kiberu committed any crime? Isn’t the road his to use because he pays taxes?.
WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY ?.
By law, a public road is any road that the public uses or has a right to use. This means that every road that anyone can freely use without being called a trespasser. For example, if there is a road that only belongs to certain people, then this is not a public road.
When we pay taxes, it means that we are contributing towards making public property, such as roads, available for use by all of us. However, it does not mean that we can use the road for a purpose it was not intended for.
In fact, by law, it is a criminal offence to dry any food on a public road. This means that what Kiberu did when he dried maize on the tarmac road was a crime, and he should have removed it when directed to do so. Now that he has been arrested, if he is taken to court, tried, and found guilty, he may have to pay a fine of up to 480,000 shillings or imprisonment for up to one year, or both.
Source: BarefootLawyers.
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