Matatu Owners Challenge Badi's Decongestion Plan

Matatu Bus Stop Sign at GPO Stage, Along Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi. Monday, October 21, 2019
Matatu Bus Stop Sign at GPO Stage, Along Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi. Monday, October 21, 2019
Kenyans.co.ke

Matatu owners have vowed that their Public Service Vehicles will not be restricted from accessing the CBD in a decongestion plan by Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director General Mohammed Badi.

The National Confederation of Matatu Transporters chairman Nelson Mwangi explained that they had secured a court order stopping the authorities from implementing the plan.

Mwangi, who represents more than 50 Matatu SACCOs in the city, noted that a case was still ongoing in court.  

"We are already in court with the Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko over the blocking of our vehicles from entering the city. The case will be mentioned on February 9, Why is NMS in a hurry?" he posed.

Matatus pictured at a terminus.
Matatus pictured at a terminus.

He further faulted the NMS for not involving them in the relocation plans from the city.

NMS had earlier stated that the ban on the matatus would take effect on December 1, 2020.

PSVs plying Ngong Road and Lang'ata Road (Kawangware, Kikuyu, Kibera, Lang'ata, Rongai, Kiserian) are expected to terminate at Green Park, known to many as Railways Club.

Vehicles plying along Waiyaki Way, Uhuru Highway, Kipande and Limuru roads, will have their bus terminus at Fig Tree in Ngara.

PSVs from Mombasa Road (South B, South C, Industrial Area, Imara Daima, Athi River, Kitengela, Machakos) will terminate at the junction of Bunyala, and Workshop Road is under construction. 

A similar decongestion plan by the county government in 2018 resulted in chaos with motorists stranded in hours of traffic.

Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja had earlier criticized the move by NMS stating that it had not addressed critical issues such as how passengers would commute to different termini within the city. 

"Imagine a sick old man or a woman being dropped at Globe Cinema to walk all the way to Uhuru Highway across here to Railway Golf Club to get a matatu to Kenyatta National Hospital," the legislator explained. 

File image of Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja
File image of Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja
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