Matatu associations and saccos have broken ranks with the Matatu Owners Association (MOA), setting up a fresh fight in the sector after accusing the umbrella body of failing to defend operators during the enforcement of the so-called Michuki traffic rules.
In Nairobi on Wednesday, November 21, 2018, the breakaway was announced by officials led by Calvin Nyaure, the chair of Matatus and Sacco Companies. He said the group no longer believed MOA was properly representing their interests and claimed the organisation had sided with government in the crackdown on vehicles said to be out of compliance.
The organisations that said they were leaving MOA included the Matatu Welfare Association (MWA), Matatu Travellers Vehicles Association (MTVA), Mount Kenya Association (MA), Association of Bus Operators Kenya (ABK) and Association of Matatu Operators (AMO).
“We have decided to denounce our membership to MOA because we feel it has failed to defend us against the harassment that matatu operators in Nairobi have undergone since the crackdown by police officers enforcing Michuki traffic rules began,” Mr Nyaure said at a press conference.
He also accused MOA chair Simon Kimutai and MWA head Dickson Mbugua of being part of cartels in the matatu business. Mr Nyaure further alleged that some MOA officials were working with NTSA to swindle operators, saying the matter had already been raised with anticorruption agencies without action.
“We can’t sit back and watch us our members suffer because of individual interests of MOA officials, some of whom don’t even own a matatu. We know how they are cooperating with NTSA to swindle us our money, an issue we have raised with anticorruption agencies but nothing is being done,” he said.
Lucy Wachuka, a nominated member of the Kajiado County assembly and chair of Serian Sacco, said operators who had complied with the rules were still being targeted. She said police were using a different checklist, arresting conductors and drivers over minor mistakes in order to demand bribes, and complained that number plates were being confiscated despite compliance.
The operators also warned that a government plan to remove 14, 25 and 33-seater matatus from the roads and replace them with BRT buses would worsen unemployment if fully implemented.
They said the proposal would deepen the pressure already facing the sector and put more livelihoods at risk.
