Requiem mass for the ‘Nissan’ matatu

A common sight on Kenyan roads is headed for extinction as Transport minister Amos Kimunya on Monday announced that the 14-seater van will not be licensed for public service transport from January next year.

And they will not be allowed into the centre of Nairobi in two months, effectively killing an icon of Kenya’s exuberant transport culture.

“Nobody should think of making importation orders for the 14-seater matatu for use in the public transport as we plan to phase them out,” warned Mr Kimunya. The 14-seater, commonly called “Nissan” even though many of them are actually Toyotas, is beloved of matatu owners because it is quick on the job and reasonably affordable as second-hand. Speaking at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance breakfast meeting on Monday, he however, said licences of those already on the roads would be renewed.
“Matatu owners entrust the responsibility of their vehicles to reckless drivers and this is what we want to eliminate,” he said.

He told matatu operators in the country to form and join saccos upon which they will be issued with certificates to operate on certain routes as a way of introducing self-regulation.

“Associations that uphold the traffic rules and observe best practices even to the passengers will be given licences to operate in a certain route,” he said.

Those who break the law will have their certificates revoked, he warned.

“There is need to team up as a group and move away from a single operator. Groups will be given prevalence in issuing of licences to operate under certain routes,” he said.

The Transport ministry, through the Transport Licensing Board, put up an advert in Monday’s Daily Nation advising public transport operators to come together and form either saccos or companies as part of the restructuring in the sub-sector.

The operators will have to register with either the Ministry of Cooperatives or with the registrar of companies. They have up to December 31 to do so.

In another move aimed at bringing sanity to public transport, Mr Kimunya said that the ministry was developing technology to enforce instant fines for traffic offenders.

He said: “We want to create a system where those engaged in reckless driving do not have a chance to get their way out and continue with the same unethical habit but create a deterrent mechanism.”

Those using the boda boda and tuk tuk will not escape the noose, as they will also be regulated.

“We admit that this is one way of creating employment, but we do not want a situation where the money raised is used in hospital bills and funerals,” he said.

Both the Matatu Welfare and the Matatu Owners associations welcomed the sacco move, saying it would eventually rein in errant matatu crews.

“This is actually what we have been asking for. It will lead to the self-regulation we have been talking about for a long time,” Mr Simon Kimutai, who heads the owners’ association, said.

MOA has already introduced the idea on the fleets it runs in the city, Starbus on the Westlands route and MOA Compliant, which mostly serve the Ngong routes.

“We find the formation of saccos the only logical way of instilling discipline in the sector,” Mr Dickson Mbugua, the head of the welfare association, said.

The organisations will be encouraged to buy the large capacity buses and minibuses that will gradually replace the 14-seater matatus.

But the Nakuru County Matatu Operators Association opposed the government proposal to licence buses with a carrying capacity of over 40 passengers on grounds that the move would hurt the sector players.

They appealed for a grace period of more than seven years to adjust and ensure the regulation applies to other East African countries.

“Some of the operators are servicing loans and should the government impose the new regulations, the victims are bound to suffer heavy losses,” said chairman Njoroge Bumasu.