Gachagua Corners Sakaja On Removal Of Matatus From Nairobi CBD

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua fired a warning shot to Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja against making any knee-jerk announcements regarding the matatu industry operations in the city's Central Business District (CBD).

Speaking in Nyeri County on Monday, December 19, Gachagua reminded Sakaja of how he was voted to the top Nairobi County seat during the August 9 general elections over his competitor, Polycarp Igathe while expressing fear that the removal of matatus from the CBD carries devastating consequences, especially on the Mt Kenya region.

Gachagua thus went on to remind the governor to consult with him first to address their interests before making any radical decisions that would hurt businesspeople in the vote-rich region as well as within the city.

"I told the Nairobi governor that we will sit down with him because we are the ones who voted for him. I am the one who convinced Kikuyus living in Nairobi to vote for him and I have called him for a meeting. 

"Whatever regulations he is implementing that can hurt businesses in Nairobi, let us first discuss and decide," he said.

According to Gachagua, banning matatus from coming in to the CBD is a tall order, seemingly referring to attempts by previous county governments to throw out the PSVs from the city which spectacularly failed.

"We don't want to go too fast, let's move slowly. The idea of removing matatus from Nairobi CBD is not a good one. Let us not start harassing people in business," he added.

Gachagua gave an example of former Nakuru governor, Lee Kinyanjui who moved to kick out matatus from the newly-crowned city's CBD and allocated them an area he described as a "forest".

This was a move that wound up costing him in the August elections and Gachagua believed that Sakaja risked facing similar circumstances if his idea of migrating the matatus out of the city stands.

"Lee Kinyanjui tried the same thing in Nakuru and went ahead to remove matatus from town and allocated them to the forest. In the August polls, the residents of Nakuru also removed Kinyanjui from town to the forest,” Gachagua further said.

The High Court nonetheless stopped him from relocating matatus plying the Nyanza, Western Kenya and Rift Valley routes to the Green Park terminus pending the determination of the case on December 13, 2022.

In the case, at least eight long-distance travel operators moved to court to challenge Sakaja's directive that had compelled them to move to the terminus by December 1.

The operators termed the move discriminatory as it left out some of their rivals. In addition, it would expose them to huge losses and inconvenience long-distance travellers who travel with relatively large luggage, especially during the festive season.

The petitioners in the case include North Rift Luxury Shuttle, Madaraka Prestige, Transline, Great Rift Shuttle, Legacy Luxury, Kina 2015 Classic, Sasaline Classic Shuttle, Blue line, Team Swat and Transliner Galaxy.

The Green Park terminus adjacent to the revamped Uhuru Park which cost Ksh250 million to build has had the official commencement of operations stalled several times. It was meant to be used by city matatus plying Lang'ata and Ngong Road routes.