A Parking man directs motorist at Banda Street in Nairobi on February 1,2015. There are many parking boys and men in various streets in Nairobi who are paid from Sh50 or more by the owners of the vehicles after securing parking with an increase of motor vehicles within central business district.
Last Wednesday, hundreds of City Hall officers stormed the streets of Nairobi to crack down on an illegal parking network which denies the county government at least Sh300,000 revenue each day.
Tiras Njoroge, City Hall’s county revenue administration chief officer, led the crackdown which followed a Nation story on the “parking boys” menace.
Tiras Njoroge, City Hall’s county revenue administration chief officer.
More than 500 vehicles were impounded in what was pegged as a new dawn intended to cure a cancer that has eaten at the capital for years.
The "parking boys" syndicate illegally profits from City Hall’s designated parking spaces, with motorists sending money to its members instead of official county payment channels.
Its members also extort protection fees from motorists who have already paid City Hall’s parking dues. Those who do not comply at times have their vehicles vandalised by the same “protectors”.
Then there's the group that occupies spaces intended for pedestrians and cyclists.
The three groups, working in tandem with rogue City Hall parking attendants, have created the perfect storm which denies the county revenue, while also triggering the chaos and disorder that is the movement of vehicles around Nairobi.
A spot check by the Nation on Monday, however, revealed that the "crackdown" may have been a knee-jerk reaction aimed at managing public anger at City Hall’s governance failures.
Back in their element
A man directs a motorist out of a parking lot on Kimathi Street in Nairobi on August 22, 2024.
On the streets of the Nairobi city centre, the same parking boys are back to work, directing motorists to available slots, even those designated by City Hall as pedestrian walkways.
It was business as usual on Biashara street, Banda street, Koinange street, River road and several other parts of the city centre this week.
In their natural element, they directed motorists to various parking spaces, legal or not, at a fee while also guaranteeing safety of the vehicles until drivers returned.
City Hall’s revenue boss on Tuesday said that he would respond to the Nation’s queries on the return of parking cartels after attending a county Cabinet meeting, but had not done so by press time.
Last week, Mr Njoroge said owners of impounded vehicles would have to part with Sh7,500 in penalties and release fees as an expensive lesson on why they shouldn’t evade the Sh300 daily parking fees in favour of cheaper payouts to parking boys.
County officials previously admitted to the Nation that they have struggled to dismantle the entrenched syndicate, which operates on major streets within the CBD.
These outfits often work in collusion with rogue county attendants and private security guards to direct motorists to spaces which are at times not officially designated, then demand cash to “secure” the vehicles.
It is illegal, under the current by-laws and the Nairobi City County (Designated Parking Areas) Regulations, 2025, to direct vehicles into parking spaces without authority, reserve spaces, or obstruct enforcement officers.
Offenders risk prosecution including clamping and towing, but officials say low bail amounts which usually range between Sh1,000 and Sh2,000 have emboldened offenders.
Alongside land rates, business permits, advertising and building approvals, parking fees are among the county’s top revenue sources. But collections have consistently fallen short of targets over the past four financial years, with losses attributed partly to collusion and weak enforcement.
In the year ending June 2022, the county collected Sh1.87 billion against a Sh3 billion target, missing by Sh1.14 billion. In 2023, the devolved unit raised Sh1.86 billion, falling short by Sh1.16 billion.
In 2024, it collected Sh1.97 billion, some Sh1.03 billion below target. And in the year ending June 2025, revenue stood at Sh1.89 billion, while only Sh910.4 million has been realised halfway through the current financial year.
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