Ruling on matatu confuses lawyers

By John Muthoni

Nairobi, Kenya: There was confusion in court Tuesday when the Matatu Welfare Association appeared before Justice George Odunga in a bid to seek extension orders for matatus to operate without new speed governors.

Nduati Caragu, lawyer for the association, had filed the case under certificate of urgency moving the court to stay order 11 of the notice by Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau.

But Justice Odunga told him he had already granted the same orders to the counsel of the splinter group Matatu Owners Association, Lee Kinyanjui, on Monday.

“Kindly peruse the file and read it well counsel. The matatus are not on the road because they did not read my orders,” said Odunga.

Rule Eleven of the notice reads in part: “First, a matatu operator shall have in place an outsourcing fleet management system that is capable of recording speed and location of the car at any given point.”

Moreover, the rule also states that they should have a data storage system, capable of storing data on vehicle speed for a period of 30 days.

It also requires that they should only be carrying luggages accompanying a passenger travelling in a bus.

According to Rule 16 by CS Kamau, Rule 11 was to come into effect as from April 15.

The court had ordered that Rule 11 stays until today when it will listen to all parties and weigh in if it will extend the orders or throw out the application by the matatu owners.

Mr Caragu in his application argued that the Government was supposed to ensure the gadgets were readily available in the market but this, he siad, was contrary to the real situation on the ground.

The court heard that many of the matatus as of March 25 had not gotten the speed governors for fixing.