Interior PS Karanja Kibicho forms team to draft taxi laws

The Interior ministry has constituted a team that will formulate laws to govern online taxi operations.

A meeting called to discuss the entry of the Uber online taxi platform in Kenya resolved to form the team to be led by Competition Authority boss Wangombe Kariuki to draft the laws.

Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho said the committee’s report would be incorporated in the drafting of laws to govern online taxi operations.

In a statement the ministry said: “The PS formed a stakeholders’ committee under the chairmanship of the Director General of the Competition Authority, Wang’ombe Kariuki, to deliberate on issues raised during the meeting and present a report in two weeks.”

The meeting was called following threats by traditional taxi operators to strike if Uber was not tamed. The committee will comprise of the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), Nairobi county government, Kenya Investments Authority, Kenya Private Sector Alliance and representatives of registered taxi business organisations.

The meeting was attended by Transport PS Wilson Irungu, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet, NTSA Director Francis Meja, Uber Operations Manager Kagure Wamuyu as well as representatives from registered taxi organisations.

“Let me make it very clear that any person engaged in acts of lawlessness will be dealt with sternly in accordance with the law. We have an established a mechanism of resolving disputes, and lawlessness is not one of them,” Kibicho said.