Matatu industry records Sh800 million loss for the last five days

Matatu Welfare Association Chairman Dickson Mbugua during a press conference in Nairobi on Monday August 14 2017. {David Njaaga, Standard}

The matatu industry has in the past one week lost an estimated Sh700 million due to the tension in the country following the August 8 election.

Matatu Welfare Association Chairperson Dickson Mbugua said they were staring at an additional Sh300 million loss if normalcy is not restored in the next few days.

“If we go another three to four days, the loss will clock Sh1 billion. This is the money that we would have generated if we were to go on normal day-to-day PSV operations,” said Mr Mbugua.

Resume duties

He added: “We are appealing to workers, both in the corporate world and informal sector, to resume their duties so that these economic-related activities can move on.”

Mbugua was, however, optimistic the situation would change given yesterday’s increased traffic in Nairobi.

He urged both President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA leader Raila Odinga to dialogue for the sake of peace in the country.

“We need our leaders because the peace that we enjoy in this country is in their hands. If tomorrow they decide to meet and discuss with their deputies on the issue of this impasse, I believe we will get an amicable solution so that the whole country can go back to normalcy,” he said.

“We’ve had tensions in 1992, 1997 and 2007. In 2017, we don’t want to go back. It is very expensive to the country and humanity,” he added.