Transport crisis fear over order to replace speed kit

Panic has gripped the public transport industry after it emerged that most matatus may have been fitted with sub-standard speed governors that the government now wants replaced.

It is feared the decision by the government could cause a transport crisis as vehicles fitted with the banned gadgets may be pulled off the road.

According to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), there are 30 brands in the country. Four were revoked and 11 were suspended.

Also affected by the government’s decision is the commercial trucking industry which the economy relies heavily on for movement of goods.

Pulling a number of trucks off the road could cause shortages of supplies.

Meanwhile, players in the industry are blaming each other for the disarray.

Public service operators wondered why the government was revoking gadgets it had approved after they had been in the market for over a year, saying they should be compensated first.

“As much as it would be good to have genuine gadgets, PSV operators are not technicians to know if a speed limiter will malfunction or not. And since all the revoked or suspended limiters are government-approved, we should be compensated,” Simon Mr Kimutai, chairman of the Matatu Owners Association (MOA), said.

He blamed the government for the hurried introduction of digital speed limiters which may have given way to sub-standard gadgets.

“When the government announced that all PSVs should install digital governors, we pleaded for at least a year more, but they set deadlines which created a market for greed,” he said.

THREATENED TO SUE

The Matatu Welfare Association (MWA) accused the government of continuously fleecing the public transport industry. The association threatened to sue the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and NTSA for negligence.

“The two are supposed to check all speed governors. We cannot purchase other governors to cover for their negligence,” said Dickson Mbugua, MWA chairperson.

“We have been ripped off hundreds of millions of shillings and we are afraid this is a recurring trend in the relationship between the government and PSVs,” he said.

Digital speed governors were introduced last year to replace analogue models installed from February 2004 as part of the famous Michuki Rules.

This was after it was discovered that matatu crews were tampering with the analogue sets, hence the need to introduce tamper-proof governors that record data in real time.

The new limiters, which were to have been installed by the end of March last year, are also supposed to record any attempt to tamper with them. The records are downloaded when a vehicle goes for yearly inspection.

NON-COMPLIANCE

On Thursday, NTSA, through a paid advertisement, announced the revocation of Frontcom, Cartrack, GTR (which is distributed by Mbetsa Innovations Ltd) and Autograde, a product of Emco Diesel Services.

The statement was signed by NTSA director-general Francis Meja, the chief mechanical and transport engineer in the Ministry of Transport, Mr Paul Mukiri, and Kebs managing director Charles Ongwae.

They also suspended Omata, Saferider, Ekas, Romatic System 80 Micro+, Jendie, Trident, Mock, Fleet 1, PGL Contro and Auto-Control.

The reason given by NTSA for its decision was non-compliance of the affected brands with the requirements of KEBS Standard KS2295-1:2011.

“The systems shall be “fail-safe” in such a way that if the plug to the electronic controller is removed, power is disconnected, or if the speed sign or wire is disconnected, the vehicle shall default to a limp mode,” it says.

NTSA director-general Francis Meja defended the government’s decision to approve the faulty speed limiters, insisting that owners of the affected companies had duped KEBS when applying for approval.

However, the affected speed limiter companies said they were being unfairly targeted over a problem caused by tamper-prone PSV operators.