A transport crisis is brewing in Nairobi after 13 matatu companies threatened to down their tools over alleged harassment by the Nairobi County government and the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA).
The matatu SACCOs on Monday, November 17, approached the High Court seeking urgent orders to stop EPRA from enforcing a ban on picking up and dropping off passengers at petrol stations within the Nairobi CBD.
According to the SACCOs, the directive was malicious, as it was likely to cripple their operations and disrupt public transport services.
The firms further stated that the immediate orders were abrupt and had the potential to have adverse economic ramifications on employees who relied on the transport industry.
Speaking outside the courts on Monday, a director of one of the Saccos claimed they were sued by two parties in a previous case on a similar matter.
"EPRA has written to us in collaboration with the Nairobi county government to take us off petrol stations. We have contributed so much to the nation at large, so this ban is punitive since it is not only matatus which operate at fuel stations," he said.
He went on, "We urge the county government to show us the way because we cannot continue like this. We transport a lot of people, including the sick and frail. How do you tell them to walk all the way to a bus terminus?"
Further, the SACCOs argued that there was no record of incidents where PSV operations in Nairobi petrol stations had endangered public safety.
The matatu SACCOs, through their lawyers Danstan Omari and Stanley Kinyanjui, openly questioned why the matatus were being singled out whilst the practice was prevalent nationwide.
During the Monday press conference, the lawyers asked the court to prioritise the matter, warning of the ineffectiveness of the petition if conservatory orders were not issued early enough.
SACCOs are under pressure from the Nairobi County government, which is keen on relocating them to the Nairobi Greenpark Terminus, which is adjacent to the busy Haile Selassie–Uhuru Highway roundabout.
The Greenpark terminus was primarily designed to be a transport hub to decongest the city by moving matatus away from the Nairobi CBD.
Despite the terminus getting boosted with new infrastructure, including an underpass, there have been continuous disputes between the Nairobi County government and matatu owners, who argue that the new terminus is impractical because of its distance from the city centre.
