Key government officials on Friday held a meeting with matatu owners to find solutions to challenges facing the sector.
The challenges include road accidents, substance abuse, insecurity, decongestion, corruption and harassment of matatu crew by the police.
The meeting was convened by the Matatu Owners Association.
Matatu Owners Association chairman Albert Karakacha, CEO Patricia Mutheu, leadership of matatu owners Saccos and officials from National Transport and Safety Authority, Interior ministry, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and National Police Service attended.
The association is a business membership organisation that champions the interests of investors in the transport sector through lobbying and advocacy.
Karakacha said the association engaged government officials on the issues affecting the sector.
“Our aim is to see how to turn around the matatu sector through Saccos. We are telling the Saccos to take charge because business belongs to the Saccos,” Karakacha said.
Karakacha said the association will not tolerate corruption.
“We are working very closely with the EACC and we came for education today,” he said.
He said education might help turn the tide.
“Going forward, we will be having monthly meetings for matatus all over the country.”
Karakacha said the monthly engagement seeks to solve the problems in the sector.
The chairman said they have agreed with Sacco leadership on how they are supposed to take charge of their business.
Karakacha said they have engaged police on the issue of notice to attend court due to various offences.
“We are saying that Saccos must be involved rather than writing the name of the driver, they must ensure the Sacco name is there,” he said.
Karakacha said they told the traffic police to always consult the Sacco over various offences and should not go to the driver since Saccos employ the driver and manage the business.
“We have told the police that they must respect the matatu owners and work very closely with them so that we can see how to deliver in terms of transport.”
On decongestion plan, Karakacha said they have talked to the Nairobi government and they have given them holding areas in Green Park, Kirinyaga Road and Ngara.
Karakacha said they have agreed that the vehicles will be held in such grounds to avoid all of them coming to town at the same time, which causes congestion.
“They should hold the vehicles there as they wait to be called one by one,” he said.
The chairman said the state will also continue providing security to weed out criminals from the sector.
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki on Thursday announced that all police roadblocks will be removed across the country from November 1.
The roadblocks will be replaced by patrol security officers along the highways and major corridors.
Kindiki said the elimination of roadblocks is a presidential directive.
"Roadblocks are an old form of security in various nations. Roadblocks should be mounted on the request of the security operators to achieve a specific agenda and once it has served its purpose it’s dismounted," he said.
The CS spoke during a meeting with the National Assembly's EAC block and Integration progress on various projects undertaken by the partner states.
The panel had invited the CS to explain the government's support free movement of goods, services and people within the region.
During Friday's meeting, a roadmap to tame road accidents that claim at least 4,000 Kenyans every year was also discussed.
The 2023 Kenya Demographic Health Survey shows that at least 4,690 people lost their lives on Kenyan roads in 2022.
The year recorded 21,757 road accident casualties, representing a 5.5 per cent increase from the 20,625 deaths reported in 2021.
The number of those who lost their lives in road crashes in 2021 was 4,579.
The number of victims who sustained serious injuries in 2022 was 9,935, a decrease from the 10,050 who were critically injured in 2021.
The number of those who sustained slight injuries in 2022 rose by 1,136 to 7,132 from 5,996 reported in 2021.
However, there was a slight decrease in the number of reported road accidents from 10,210 in 2021 to 9,976 in 2022.
The road crash victims were categorised as pedestrians, drivers, passengers, pillion passengers, pedal cyclists and motorcyclists.
Pedestrians accounted for the highest fatalities at 1,682 while motorcyclists were 1,254.
Drivers were 426, passengers (822), pillion passengers (445) and pedal cyclists (61).
Passenger casualties increased from 7,586 victims in 2021 to 9,161 in 2022, a percentage increase of 20.8.
