The National Police Service (NPS) has moved to avert a strike that had been announced by the matatu operators.
Through a statement, NPS noted that the move to suspend the strike, which was to start Wednesday, March 16, follows a series of discussions between the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Federation of Public Transport sector officials.
To pave way for further engagements between stakeholders, NTSA has also suspended the countrywide crackdown on non-compliant public transport vehicles.
Further, the law enforcement authorities have resolved to include the federation of public transport in the multi-agency team that will inform future dialogue on how the crackdown should be conducted.
"The ongoing multi-agency crackdown on non-compliant public transport vehicles has been suspended," National Police Service stated.
"It was further agreed that the federation of public transport will be represented in future multi-agency operations," their statement added.
The discussions were spearheaded by Deputy Inspector General Edward Mbugua and attended by chairman of the Federation of Public Transport Sector Edwin Mukabana and NTSA Director General George Njau.
The matatu operators had threatened to stage a nationwide strike citing frustrations from NTSA officials. The operators blamed the regulator for unwarranted compliance checks forcing operators to part with between Ksh5,000 and Ksh20,000.
"We demand that govt intervenes on this matter and stops its officials from harassing and extorting money from our members forthwith, failure to which we shall on our PSV operators from the country, withdraw their vehicles from the road countrywide with effect from Wednesday, March, 16," the federation stated.
Operators noted that the sector has not recovered from the effect of the pandemic and that the ongoing crackdown has further affected the sector.
The crackdown was announced targeting motorists who fail to abide by the set traffic rules.
While announcing the operation, the government noted that the decision was informed by the increasing cases of road accidents.
However, the operators maintained that the crackdown is bad for their businesses which are still recovering from the effects of the pandemic.
“A crackdown is a failure by law enforcement to maintain compliance. It is in bad taste and will lead to loss of business,” Matatu Owners Association chairman Simon Kimutai stated.
