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NTSA suspends Sacco licence over passenger’s death

By Hillary Kimuyu February 10th, 2021 2 min read

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has suspended the operations of all Memba Travellers Sacco matatus with immediate effect.

The suspension comes days after a tragic incident in which a female passenger lost her life when she was allegedly thrown out of a moving matatu by the crew.

The passenger and crew had reportedly disagreed over the fare with the deceased willing to part with Sh400 but the crew insisting on Sh600.

NTSA, in a statement to newsrooms, demanded all the vehicles attached to this Sacco be subjected to fresh scrutiny.

The Sacco officials have also been summoned to explain the incident.

“The vehicles belonging to the Sacco be subjected to a compliance inspection at the NTSA inspection centre at Likoni road, Nairobi,” the statement further added.

The deceased was identified as Lucy Wanjiku who Police say died on Sunday.

The Equity Bank employee is said to have been pushed out of a Mwea-bound matatu by a rogue crew in Juja on Saturday, some 30 minutes after she had boarded the vehicle in Ruiru.

The 26-year-old, who’d planned to wed later this year, hit her head on the tarmac and died hours later.

Wanjiku, who was a beneficiary of Equity Bank’s Wings to Fly scholarship program for bright and needy students, boarded the matatu in Ruiru at around 6.30 pm on her way to Mwea in Kirinyaga.

According to family members, when the deceased boarded the vehicle — registration number KCZ 729C belonging to Memba Sacco — she quarreled with the driver and two touts over a sudden rise in the fare price.

Witnesses told police Wanjiku had agreed to pay Sh400 and handed over a Sh500 note to the conductor.

But when the matatu got to Juja, the crew refused to give back her change, prompting a quarrel.

The vehicle stopped and the driver ordered her to alight.

Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai said on Monday during a Twitter engagement with Kenyans that the driver of the vehicle is still at large and the police are in pursuit.

He assured Kenyans that action will be taken against the culprits involved in the death of Wanjiku.

“We have not arrested the driver and his conductor but we have traced the vehicle and towed it to a police station. Efforts to arrest the two are ongoing,” said Juja OCPD Beatrice Migarusha