By S, KNA
Public Service Vehicles (PSV) operators in Nyeri town now wants the County government to open talks with transport SACCOS on how best to address the aborted relocation of their operations to a new site to avert further loss of business.
Speaking on behalf of the operators, the chairman of Nyena Sacco Peter Theuri asked the County authorities to involve the stakeholders before embarking on the planned controversy riddled relocation to new Field Marshal Muthoni Kirima terminus
He said the current grandstanding between matatu owners and the county government authorities over the matter was counterproductive as both parties were losing out in terms of business and relevant levies due to the persisting stalemate.
“We have been incurring huge losses in terms of lost business since yesterday when they withdrew their services citing unplanned relocation to the new terminus” he said.
He said the move caught hundreds of commuters by surprise forcing the majority to either postpone their journeys or opt for alternative but expensive modes of transport after failing in order to reach their destinations.
The boycott also affected hundreds of shoppers who had intended to do their purchases in town as the majority of businesses remained closed in solidarity with the striking drivers.
“This failure by the county government to listen to the cries of matatu operators and business people will only worsen an already bad scenario as many of us currently serving loans for these vehicles .This standoff will also affect school going children who are expected to be reporting to school today as they depend on public transport .Strangely , instead of sitting down with us and seeing how we can resolve this matter the authorities have decided to lock out of all the three stages by bringing truckloads of huge rocks to deny us entry into the parking lot.” he has told KNA.
Theuri claims that by closing down the three stages and relocating all PSV matatus to the Sh600 million new terminus, the county government will have effectively shut down the businesses of hundreds of people in the process who operate in the CBD.
He argues that for decades the three matatu picking and dropping points have been the lifeline for scores of entrepreneurs including market people, supermarkets, eateries and therefore moving the new stage will deal a death knell to their existence.
“I wonder whether the county government knows what will happen to businesses that have been depending on commuters at these stages once they close them down. We also wonder why the Governor wants to create a new bus park but in the process end up destroying three others. There is also the plight of the commuters. How will a person seeking treatment at the Outspan Hospital connect from the Field Marshal Muthoni Kirima Stage to the medical facility?” he posed.
“All these are some of the issues we had requested the county to first address before going ahead with this move. Everything should have been done in a humane manner and the outcome would have been a win-win situation for all of us. “
The current push and pull between the operators and the County Government over the controversial relocation spilled over after it ended into court corridors last year.
The High court later granted the County Government the greenlight to transfer all the PSV matatu to the new terminus.
However, despite the ruling, the operators have failed to agree with the county government on how to proceed including the timeline in which to undertake the transfer.
On Friday last week CECM Transport Engineer Abdil Hanif through a statement posted on the official county government facebook page had notified the general public that all PSV vehicles including Sientas will be operating from Field Marshall Muthoni Kirima Terminus from August 25 2025.
The statement further stated that following the new directive all the other terminuses shall remain nonoperational and also warned that noncompliance to the guidelines shall be construed as a contempt of court directions as well as a violation of County laws.
Last month Dr Mutahi Kahiga had announced halting of the relocation to pave the way for coming up with a transition strategy.
Dr Kahiga stated that they had agreed to constitute a 22-member committee which will oversee the transition with the new transfer date expected to be announced on August 5.
“We have discussed various scenarios and agreed that there is a need to sit together and hold further consultations. This must be the rallying call that transition and relocation must be peaceful. It must not disrupt businesses and we hope to get into an amicable situation,” stated Dr Kahiga.
Initially transport operations were to be moved to the ultra-modern terminus in November last year in compliance with a directive issued by the County Executive in charge of Transport and Infrastructure, Engineer Hussein.
But eight long distance matatu operators moved to the High Court in Nyeri seeking orders to block exercise on grounds that the county government had not conducted adequate public participation before effecting the order as enshrined in the constitution.
They also argued that the order showed bias and discrimination on their place of business given that they had been operating in the town’s CBD for 50 years and that the relocation to the new terminus -which held no business prospects-would undermine their right to a decent livelihood.
Further, they termed the order as a threat and an attempt to finish their matatu business and their business goodwill given that the county was pushing them to a new and unknown set up far from Nyeri CBD.
Nevertheless, the court dismissed the suite in June this year on the grounds it lacked merit.
In his determination, Justice Kizito Magare, stated the matatu operators had failed to demonstrate the manner in which the public participation sessions held by the county government on diverse dates between 2019 and 2025 and which their representatives had attended, failed to meet the constitutional threshold.
He also noted that the matatu saccos had failed to demonstrate how the Executive Order by the county government to relocate the operators from three bus termini within Nyeri CBD had discriminated against them.
The new bus terminus was expected to address the challenge of endless traffic gridlocks that end up inconveniencing commuters in wasted man-hours.
It was financed under the Kenya Urban Support Programme; a World Bank initiative whose objective is to spur economic development in counties through improved physical infrastructure development.
The facility features 240 matatu, bus, taxi and tuk-tuk bays, 1,000 booking offices, 40 parking bays and 98 passenger waiting bays.
In addition, the park hosts 1,000 business stalls, five sanitation blocks, high level water tanks and a modern solid waste chamber.
