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More than 400 matatu saccos operating illegally in Nairobi


Nairobi County government has stopped the issuance of new licences to matatu saccos after it emerged there are more than 400 unregistered matatu Saccos operating illegally in Nairobi.

According to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), they have only 272 registered matatu saccos operating in the capital.

GHOST SACCOS

However, records by City Hall indicate that there are 692 registered matatu saccos in Nairobi, meaning 420 are not registered by NTSA.

NTSA’s Manager for Licensing Jackson Mutua stated the 272 are the registered saccos in Nairobi excluding those that operate outside Nairobi but terminate their journey in the capital.

“It does not mean they are ghost saccos, but they are not part of the registered saccos under Nairobi,” said Mr Mutua.

The revelations emerged during a Nairobi County Assembly Transport committee that had raised concerns over proliferation of unregistered matatu saccos operating and have been allocated pick up and drop off points in the Central Business District.

“This is a serious matter because if they are not registered then how do they pay for the seasonal parking and where does the money go to?” posed the committee’s chairperson Joyce Muthoni.

Utalii MCA Wilson Ochola accused county officers of colluding with the owners of the unregistered saccos to let them operate saying there is no way 420 saccos can go unnoticed by the county.

UNREGISTERED

“This reveals a high tendency of corruption and laxity by county enforcement team,” said Mr Ochola.

The committee pointed out that there might be a possibility that among the 420 unregistered saccos, some might not have reached the required standard to operate with the ‘new’ saccos were linked to the alleged issuance of fake letters used to allocate stages for them.

According to NTSA regulations, for a matatu sacco to be registered it requires to have a minimum number of 30 PSVs.

On his part, Nairobi County Director of Parking Tom Tinega called for both the county and NTSA to reconcile their lists to get the accurate figure.

“By doing this way, it will also be easier to know the number of saccos with genuine licenses so that we can know what we are dealing with and the amount of revenue we expect,” said Mr Tinega.

NTSA recommended that no more additional saccos should be registered by City Hall before they can deal with the current problem.

This is in addition to the committee resolving that the invalid pick up and drop letters be revoked for fresh issuance of valid ones that are renewable periodically.