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Umoinner:Traffic directive discriminatory


Most Umoinner matau owners grounded their vehicles after Nairobi County police boss Benson Kibue ordered that they be driven to Thika Road traffic police headquarters for inspection.

So far, only a few buses have complied with the order.

At the Oil Libya Petrol station in Doonholm, 10 of them were parked while others have been parked at various petrol stations, garages and fore courts in the area.

At the Mutindwa stage in Umoja, idle drivers and touts shared khat and drinks, as the ban left City Shuttle, Metropolitan buses and a handful of 14-seater  matatus dominating PSV operations in the area.

According to Dennis Kioko an Umoinner sacco driver, most of the bus owners had withdrawn their vehicles in fear of police harassment over the traffic commandant’s directive.

At the Shauri Moyo Police station, several buses belonging to the sacco have been impounded.

“This directive is very discriminatory. These buses could not operate  without the traffic police inspection certificates. Why does it take an accident by a single bus to give a blanket order over the others, “wondered Swaleh another driver.

“We obey the rules. This was a one-off incident as tragic as it was. We believe the police are now out to make money as they will now start asking other sacco’s operating plying other city routes to go for inspection,” said Swaleh.

The Umoinner sacco operates around 70 buses. They are popular with Umoja and Tena residents as they provide cheap albeit dangerously fast transport to and from the city centre.