Meru taxi operators cry over ‘harassment’ by the police

MERU, KENYA; A section of taxi operators in Meru town have raised alarm over what they called recurrent harassment by traffic policemen and officials of the National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA).
Owners of the 500 taxis plying the Makutano, Kemu and Ruiri routes from Meru town claimed they were being targeted unnecessarily while their counterparts plying other routes were operating without disturbance.
But Imenti North Traffic Patrol Base Commander Vincent Okoth dismissed the operators as a bunch of non-compliant traders who are looking for excuses to dodge the law.
The operators had an uneasy day with traffic police officers the whole of Monday which culminated in the blocking of the main Meru- Nairobi highway through burning of tires in early evening before anti-riot police were called in.
According to the operators, the harassment involved trumped up charges for obstruction, picking passengers on non-designated areas and failure to produce tax compliance stickers.
"We do not oppose normal traffic crackdowns but what we have a bone to pick with is discrimination action targeting only a fraction of the taxi operators," said Iddi Mureithi, the Secretary of the Makutano Taxi Operators.
Meru Taxi Owners Association coordinator Tom Ndereba said their business was threatened by recurrent police crackdowns. He spoke when the operators visited County Mp Florence Kajuju at her office in Meru town urging her to intervene on their behalf.
Ms Kajuju said the Jubilee government has a policy of helping informal businesses thrive through giving them reasonable allowance for self-regulation.
But a furious Okoth accused the taxi operators of engaging in massive illegalities including failing to comply with PSV rules, illegally operating as matatus, picking passengers in non-designated stops, obstruction and lacking the mandatory yellow line on their vehicles.
"They know they are not in compliance and are looking for a cover-up to avoid being smoked out," he said. "We have roughly 1,000 taxis in this town and only 50 are in compliance," he added.
Okoth said traffic policemen had impounded 25 vehicles in the last one week and taken owners to court with most being fined between Sh5,000 and Sh25,000.
"Everybody must respect the law and I will enforce compliance without discrimination even if they continue raising a lot of false allegations," he added.