By STANDARD TEAM

Public transport in Mt Kenya region remained paralysed for the entire day Monday as matatu operators withdrew their vehicles from the roads citing harassment by traffic policemen.

Although organisers of the strike attribute it to police harassment, underlying political issues have also emerged with the Mt Kenya Matatu Owners Association which called the strike appearing to be headed for a major split.

Roads leading in and out of major towns in the region remained with less traffic after matatu operators withdrew their vehicles from the road some of them in solidarity with their association and others in fear of attack from those supporting it.

But as the strike started, there were signs of divisions in the eight-month-old union of matatu owners' Saccos in the region.

On Friday, Michael Kariuki, the chairman of the Mt Kenya Matatu Owners Association announced a strike starting Monday.

Kariuki said had the blessings of the over 90 matatu Saccos bringing together 15,000 matatu owners.

It was the second time in a fortnight that Kariuki was announcing a strike by the association, which was launched with fanfare last March by Deputy Premier Uhuru Kenyatta at the Thika Municipal Stadium.

In addition to withdrawing their vehicles from the road, the operators have vowed to switch their political allegiance from their current preference to an undisclosed camp capable of catering for their interests as Central Kenya leaders have allegedly abandoned them.

"We are considering withdrawing our support for Uhuru because we think we were hoodwinked into blindly supporting him. He (Uhuru) has done nothing to address our plight," said a Matatu operator allied to one of the saccos.

Ever since the March launch, the association is seen as supportive of the Deputy Prime minister’s political career.

Three days after calling off the earlier strike that was to start last Tuesday, Kariuki insisted on Friday that they would go on strike because the government had failed to take action against harassment from the traffic police department especially in Thika town and its environs.

"When we called off the strike last Tuesday, we were giving dialogue a chance because the commissioner of police had specifically delegated his deputy Bakari Jambeni and Traffic Commandant Joseph Tito to address our concerns. Our negotiations with those two have hit a deadlock."

Kariuki insisted that the top governing council of the association had approved the withdrawal of matatus from the roads to force the police to address their concerns.

Wilfred Kimotho who chairs the Nyahururu headquartered 4NTE Sacco which runs routes connecting to most towns in the region as well as Nairobi, Nakuru and Eldoret ruled out withdrawal of their vehicles from the roads.

"You cannot wake up one day and ask people to suspend operations which are their livelihood. This (strike) requires a lot of consultation because each Sacco is independent and primarily answerable to its members," said Kimotho.

Jimnah Obendi who is the Director of Operations at the Nyeri based 2NK Sacco said they were not aware of the strike action and would continue with their operations.

An Embu based Sacco official accused Kariuki of failing to show leadership of the giant association saying his statements that they would withdraw support from politicians who had failed to support their cause had painted him as "over ambitious."

Kimotho weighed in that there is a crisis of leadership at the top echelons of the association, which needed to be addressed.

The crisis has been provoked by accusations that traffic policemen were frustrating operators through arrests, impounding of their vehicles and arbitrary prosecutions all geared towards milking higher kickbacks.

The Thika operators are specifically demanding for the transfer or suspension of the Thika Traffic Police Commander Jane Ndevi whose division they described as "notorious for extortion."

There were no public vehicles heading to Nairobi from Meru, Maua, Nkubu, Runyenjes and Chuka.

Also affected by the industrial action was matatus from Embu, Mbeere, Mwea, Kerugoya and Siakago.

It was the same story for the passengers headed to the city from Nyeri, Murang’a, Thika, Maragwa and Karatina.

Vehicles coming from Marsabit, Isiolo and Nanyuki had to terminate their journey in Nyeri for fear of reprisal attacks from the striking matatu crew.

That was despite the Central Provincial Police boss John M'Mbijjiwe assuring operators opposed to the strike that they would be protected from reprisal attacks. M'Mbijjiwe spoke early Monday after touring the affected towns.

But the strike offered a boom to taxi operators, who moved in to cash from desperate commuters.

Taxi operators who moved in at Nyeri Lower Bus termini charged Nairobi-bound commuters Sh2,000 for the three hours journey. Normally, matatus charge Sh300 to Nairobi and Sh250 to Thika.

Reports by Wainaina Ndung’u, Mary Kamande, Job Weru and Boniface Gikandi.