Superhighway Sacco: We do not manage the killer bus

It has emerged that the bus which was involved in the Friday night grisly road accident had been suspended from its Sacco.

The bus was heading to Busia County in Western Kenya when it collided with two trailers at Gilgil at 2:30am leading to the death of 19 passengers.

While the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) identified the bus to be registered by the Superhighway Sacco plying Thika Road, the Sacco has come out insisting the information is not right.

According to details obtained by The Standard, the bus belonging to one Humphrey Mulindi was suspended from the Sacco on July 28, 2016.

This was on grounds that the owner failed to comply with the Sacco’s by laws, mainly remission of fees that should not be below Sh12,000.

"You are hereby notified that the above mentioned bus has been suspended from our Sacco for failure to contribute the management fee for our route operations," read the letter in part copied to NTSA.

Speaking to The Standard, the Shoko Beko, the Sacco’s Treasurer said the owner of the bus on joining made operations difficult for them.

"He did not want to be controlled. He wanted his own drivers and was not interested in any expenses to keep the Sacco running. It was better to let him go," said Shoko.

Shoko explained that the bus' owner joined the Sacco in January 2016, brought his bus in April before he was let go in July.

"After releasing him we even had to report to Pangani Police as he refused to remove our branding. The bus was impounded for 18 days before it was released under unclear circumstances," he said.

Aden Amin the Sacco’s Vice Chair in charge of operations said the accident has painted a bad image for the company even though in actual sense they have nothing to do with the ill-fated bus.

He explained that when one of their buses wants to ferry people outside of the designated route, the owner applies for a temporary permit of three days.

"And he must submit details of the driver and all the passengers. This is business and some of these vehicles are servicing loans and we cannot allow to be painted in bad light," said Amin.