Minister sets stage for new clash over 14-seater matatus
Commuters at a stage. Matatus and hauliers will not reduce fares and cargo transportation costs despite the recent drop in fuel prices. FILE PHOTO |
What you need to know:
Legal notice number 179 bans renewal of licence for any vehicle whose capacity is less than 25 passengers from January 1, 2016.
Owners of double cabin pick-up vehicles, however, have a reprieve as NTSA removes them from the category of a commercial vehicles.
Transport secretary Michael Kamau has published a new regulation that seeks to raise the capacity of public service vehicles (PSV) to at least 25 seats from next year, setting the stage for another clash with matatu operators.
Legal notice number 179 bans renewal of licence for any vehicle whose capacity is less than 25 passengers from January 1, 2016.
“The authority (National Transport and Safety Authority) shall not license any new PSV as commuter service vehicle whose carrying capacity is less than 25 passengers,” the notice tabled in the National Assembly by Majority Leader Aden Duale reads.
Owners of double cabin pick-up vehicles, however, have a reprieve as NTSA removes them from the category of a commercial vehicles.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 2 of the Traffic Act, the NTSA declares…Double Cabin Pick-Up not to be a commercial vehicle,” NTSA chairperson Lee Kinyanjui and director general Francis Meja said in legal notice number 180 also tabled in the Parliament.
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi referred the legal notices to the committee on Transport for consideration. The committee can either approved or recommend their annulment
Mr Kamau’s notice dated December 15, 2014, however contradicts President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive that lifted a blanket ban on 14-seater matatus last November.
The President directed that while ban would be enforced in Nairobi and Mombasa, exceptions would be made for PSVs operating in long distance routes and in rural areas.
“The authority shall not, with effect from January, 1 renew the licence of any PSV whose seating carrying capacity is less than 25 passengers,” Mr Kamau said in the notice which revokes legal notice number 111 of 2006 and 209 of 2010.
In lifting the blanket ban, Mr Kenyatta said it would discourage investment in the multi-billion shilling transport sector that accounts for a growing share of the economy.
“After research and wide consultations between my government and stakeholders, it has become clear that a blanket ban on 14-seater matatus, especially for long distance transport, may not be appropriate at this time,” the President said during the National Delegates Conference of matatu owners in Nairobi.
The Transport ministry and NTSA have for the past 10 years been pushing for reforms aimed at streamlining the chaotic public transport sector.
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