Public Service vehicles in Nyeri paralyze transport operation

Nyeri, Wednesday, July 12, 2023

KNA, by Wangari Mwangi and Mercy Ndegwa

Hundreds of passengers in Nyeri were left stranded after matatu operators paralyzed transport operations within the county over what they termed as unfair treatment by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

The Nyahururu- Nakuru- Nanyuki bus stage was deserted with no vehicle in sight. At the 2NK Sacco which hosts the bulk of the Public Service Vehicles (PSV) plying Nairobi, Embu, Karatina, and Mombasa routes, drivers and their touts took part in volleyball and skipping rope to keep themselves busy.

Some of the residents who use public transport to get into town were forced to walk to work on Wednesday morning. Those lucky enough to catch public transport from Nyahururu town were dropped off one kilometer from Nyeri town as matatu plying the route made a U-turn mid-journey to avoid getting attacked by their striking colleagues.

Speaking to KNA, the drivers said that despite the government’s decision to suspend the retesting of commercial and PSV until September, many drivers are still not able to renew their driver’s license without the retest requirement.

They are also accusing the NTSA of being unfair during the evaluation for deliberately ensuring that most of the drivers who take the test fail.

“What we want is for us to be able to renew our licenses without being subjected to a re-test because we are still driving the same vehicles we were driving prior to the expiry of the license and also the roads we are driving on and their signage have not changed.

We are also opposed to the test because the NTSA officials dismiss you without telling you the exact section of the test you have failed. From the look of things, they just want to collect money from us by forcing us to retake the test,” said Joseph Mwangi.

“Drivers who cause accidents are the ones who should undertake the test. And if they are going to re-test drivers, let the evaluation be undertaken by all drivers not just PSV drivers and it should be at the government’s cost,” said Eliud Muriuki another driver.

Last month, a report from NTSA from a campaign to re-test PSV drivers showed that only 31 percent of PSV drivers were fit to ferry goods or passengers on Kenyan roads. According to Transport Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, 576 drivers out of 1,847 who had been assessed had passed the retest.

The drivers are also demanding that the Ministry of Transport do away with any new directives specifically the recent directive to install dashboard cameras in their PSV vehicles within the next one year.

They say the new administration has in recent days been bombarding them with very many regulations which they feel will do very little to curb the number of accidents on Kenyan roads.

In addition, they argued that they are still in the process of complying with some of the demands of the previous administration despite the tough economic times.

“We are in the process of replacing the old number plates which are costing us Sh3050, they are also asking us to get the smart driver’s license on one hand. On the other hand, they want us to retest our suitability on the roads at a cost of Sh1050 per retest taken and they are saying we should fit our vehicles with dashboard cameras which will cost us Sh30,000 per vehicle. Under the current hard economic times this is not possible much as we would like to comply,” said Peter Ndirangu, the Nyena Sacco Chairman.

Mr Ndirangu however said they were willing to resume normal transport operations once the government meets the demands raised by the drivers.

Courtesy ; K. N. A