• KTA boss Dennis Ombok said at least 15,000 trucks, which have been operating from Mombasa to Nairobi will be removed from the roads.
• Haki Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid said they have given the national government “some three days to review this illegal directive on cargo haulage”.
A rights lobby and the Kenya Transporters Association will hold daily protests in Mombasa over a directive to move goods from the port exclusively via the Standard Gauge Railway.
The transporters alongside Muslim for Human Rights, Haki Africa and Long Distance Truck Drivers Union issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the government to reverse the directive.
On Monday, the groups led a two-hour protest at Changamwe roundabout attended by container freight stations employees and business owners.
Haki Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid said they have given the national government “some three days to review this illegal directive on cargo haulage”.
He said the national government was implementing policies that are killing Mombasa’s economy and impoverishing residents.
“We will not allow continued marginalisation of the coast people. We will not allow our business to incur huge losses. This calls for mass action,” Khalid said.
He accused coast leaders of failing to defend the people who voted for them.
Khalid said in Mau Forest, the leaders were defending their people from being evicted, even though they are there illegally.
“From today, we declare that Mombasa does not have elected leaders who can stand with their people,” he said.
He invoked Article 37 of the Constitution as empowering the groups to demonstrate peacefully and demand their rights.
Muhuri Rapid Response Officer Francis Auma said the directive is slowly killing Mombasa.
“Let us not be fooled. Things are really bad. Mombasa will soon be a ghost town. We are therefore going to be in the streets until action is taken,” Auma said.
According to KTA, 85 per cent of all cargo coming into the country is currently being transported by the SGR and the government wanted to take up the 15 per cent too.
KTA boss Dennis Ombok said at least 15,000 trucks, which have been operating from Mombasa to Nairobi will be removed from the roads.
“That means that 15,000 people, who were working as drivers, and additional 15,000 who were turn-boys will be rendered jobless,” Ombok said.
The action will directly affect the families, he said.
Last Friday, a University of Nairobi report showed that the operationalisation of the SGR freight services in Mombasa hurt the coastal economy.
The survey conducted between August 27 and September 14 last year found that Mombasa had reached a point of ‘economic decay’ because of the impact of SGR freight services.
At least 8,111 people who are directly employed in CFSs as truck drivers, clearing agents and suppliers in the supplementary business in transport could lose jobs.
The survey's lead researcher Kennedy Ogolla said the study should inform the national government and county governments of the consequences of the project.
“I wish to report that we have established a very negative impact on employment, security matters, the effect on health and related services, and the breakage of societal bonds because of the SGR operationalisation,” Ogolla said.
Mombasa’s contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product was Sh2.06 billion in 2018, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
Mombasa was the fourth largest contributor to the National Gross Domestic Product after Nairobi, Nakuru and Kiambu respectively.
The researchers proposed that local leaders should lobby for policy alignment to allow market forces to operate freely at the Coast.
(edited by O. Owino)