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Matatu Saccos sue Sonko after being kicked out of CBD

By MAUREEN KAKAH December 3rd, 2018 2 min read

Twenty one Nairobi Matatu Saccos have sued the Nairobi County government over the directive prohibiting Public Service Vehicles from accessing the City Center.

They claim that the ban has been effected without adequate notice and that it is being implemented in a haphazard manner.

They allege that the move has ignored public participation and several court orders that protects several operators from being hounded out of city centre.

In their filed case documents, they allege that a gazette notice on the ban was first issued on May 12, 2017 but its implementation was deferred because there was no public participation.

According to the matatu saccos, the shelved gazette notice was revived on November 29 and has now been effected contrary to the Fair Administration Act.

DISCRIMINATORY

They also fault the fact that only City Hoppers, City Shuttles, Kenya Bus Services and Double M have been allowed to operate with Central Business District on grounds that they operate in diametric routes, saying the move is discriminatory.

They allege that the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (Namata) should have been involved in the decision.

“The said actions are inconsiderate as there was no study or effort to ascertain whether the designated points can accommodate the number of matatus that are being redirected thus an avenue for chaos,” said Mr Duncan Okatch, their lawyer.

He added: ” In special circumstances such as this being city center, it is important for there to have been public participation as the suffering they would be subjected to would be dire.”

QUASHED

The Nairobi Transport and Safety Authority as well the National Police Service have also been sued.

The matatu saccos want that gazette notice to be quashed as well as the ban.

They also want the sued parties to be barred from impounding matatus and that the ones already impounded should be released.

They further want it declared that the gazette notice with the challenged directive is in procedural.