Matatus plan demo over ban

Matatu crews plan to hold countrywide demonstrations on Wednesday against the National Transport and Safety Authority for slapping a ban on Embassava Sacco.

The crews say the rule that imposes a blanket ban on an entire Sacco when one vehicle commits an offence is unfair and should be scrapped.

The Matatu Welfare Association claims that the collective punishment is an abuse of their rights.

They said that the clause which allows the agency to remove number plates and suspend saccos was sneaked into the law as it not in the draft Bill.

Matatu owners plan to paralyse transport and assemble at Uhuru Park to seek an audience with the President.

Association chairman Dickson Mbugua said: “The officials banned the Great Rift Valley Sacco in Nakuru and Kabras Sacco in Kakamega; we want to have the entire country’s public transporters to participate in the industrial action.”

Mr Mbugua, who was addressing a press conference in Nairobi on Saturday, said the safety authority director-general Francis Meja and chief executive John Muya must be moved from the authority.

MATATU INDUSTRY

They are also demanding that the authority’s board be restructured to include representatives from the matatu owners.

“They are making very bad policies because none of the board members have practical experience in public transport,” Mr Mbugua said.

Mr Mbugua said authority was replacing traffic police as extortionists and ignoring their job which is to increase road safety.

Embassava Sacco lost their licence on Wednesday after one of their drivers caused an accident on Jogoo Road.

The authority’s road safety director Mathew Munyao, however, defended the regulator, saying saccos should ensure all their staff comply with rules. “If they don’t want suspension, then they should comply with the law,” he said.

He said Embassava Sacco was issued with a letter stating the conditions they need to meet for the suspension to be lifted. The matatu owners claim that the conditions were punitive and would cost Embassava over Sh2 million.

Part of the conditions set for the sacco include obtaining compliance certificates from the National Hospital Insurance Fund and the National Social Security Fund.